First Public SphereCast on ESRL's SOS®
On April 1, the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, broadcast a live "SphereCast," in which climate change researcher and Nobel laureate Stephen Schneider used ESRL's Science on a Sphere® (SOS) to illustrate his talk to museums around the world. Viewers were able to follow Schneider's presentation titled, "Global Warming: Is Science Settled Enough for Policy?" as he referred to data projected on the sphere. Schneider's face and voice were broadcast onto flat screens at museums, side-by-side with simultaneous SOS broadcasts.
Science on a Sphere®, or SOS, is an educational tool invented by ESRL Director Alexander MacDonald. Now installed in 34 museums and other institutions around the world, the giant luminous sphere displays animations of scientific data, from hurricanes to climate change. Stanford University's Schneider contributed to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore and numerous NOAA scientists.
By using the SOS network and the sphere itself, Schneider seized the opportunity to educate thousands on climate-related issues. The new Science On a Sphere® feature, SphereCasting, allows organizations with SOS installed to experience real-time lectures or presentations, with accompanying, animated datasets displayed on the sphere, given at SOS installations around the world by noted researchers or scientists.
Contact information
Name: William Bendel
Tel: 303-497-6708
William.B.Bendel@noaa.gov