Research in NOAA

NOAA Dives into Ocean in Google Earth

Dr. Richard W. Spinrad, assistant administrator, NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and Dr. Widi Agoes Pratikto, secretary general, Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs & Fisheries

VISITORS TO GOOGLE EARTH CAN NOW DIP THEIR TOES INTO THE OCEAN WITH THE RECENT ADDITION OF OCEAN DATA AND IMAGERY PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION.

GOOGLE EARTH, THE POPULAR ONLINE EARTH EXPLORATION TOOL, NOW GIVES ANYONE WITH A COMPUTER THE OPPORTUNITY TO VIRTUALLY EXPLORE THE OCEAN. NOAA CONTRIBUTED A VARIETY OF DATA AND IMAGERY TO THE PROJECT.

DR. RICHARD SPINRAD, NOAA ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH, SAYS NOAA'S DATA UNDERGO STRONG QUALITY ASSURANCE SO THEY REPRESENT THE STATE OF THE ART, IN TERMS OF ACCURACY.

"If you want to see how something changes in the ocean from year to year or decade to decade, NOAA has the responsibility for and does archive all those data, and now you'll be able to take a look at those data and find out what happens over time.

SPINRAD AND NOAA ADMINISTRATOR-NOMINEE DR. JANE LUBCHENCO, SERVE ON THE"OCEAN IN GOOGLE EARTH" ADVISORY BOARD. INCLUDED IN"OCEAN IN GOOGLE EARTH" ARE SOME OF THE EXPEDITIONS FROM NOAA'S OFFICE OF OCEAN EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH, SUCH AS A TRIP TO THE SUBMERGED WRECK OF THE TITANIC. DATA FROM NOAA'S NATIONAL DATA BUOY CENTER AND BATHYMETRY OF THE U.S. COASTS IS ALSO A PART OF THE NEW"EXPLORE OCEAN" LAYER, ALONG WITH PHOTOS AND INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARIES."When Google Earth first came on line, there was a relatively limited number of layers. And over time we've seen this extraordinary explosion of layers. We are going to see the same thing for Ocean in Google Earth. Down the line you are going to see an extraordinary diversity of images, of data. And you're going to see applications like nobody imagined before. – weather, climate, fisheries. It is really going to be an extraordinary capability and I can't even imagine what we will see five years from now."

SPINRAD SAID"OCEAN IN GOOGLE EARTH" WILL INSPIRE YOUNGER USERS TO PURSUE CAREERS IN MARINE SCIENCE, AND HE EXPECTS ADULTS WILL LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MYRIAD ISSUES AFFECTING OUR OCEANS. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON NOAA'S ROLE WITH OCEAN IN GOOGLE EARTH, VISIT THE NOAA WEBSITE AT NOAA.GOV.

FOR NOAA RESEARCH, I'M BARRY REICHENBAUGH."