Not you’re local shopping mall, but the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. NOAA and the Smithsonian have worked together to develop “The Sant Ocean Hall“, this exhibit hall combines 674 marine specimens and models, high-definition video experiences, one-of-a kind exhibits, and the newest technology, enabling visitors to explore the ocean’s past, present, and future as never before.

What looks really interesting and worth a trip to go see is the “Science on a Sphere” exhibit.

NOAA’s Science On A Sphere™ will take visitors as if they were 22,000 miles in space where they will see ocean and atmospheric processes displayed across a spinning globe and understand why Earth is so appropriately called “the blue planet.” The Science On A Sphere™ was invented by Sandy MacDonald, director of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

Are you confused yet?  I was at first when I started reading about HTDP, but it is actually a very interesting Geodetic program that was developed and put out by the National Geodetic Society.

HTDP is a tool that enables users to predict horizontal displacements and/or horizontal velocities related to crustal motion in the United States.

Wordy and scientific explanation of the software:

The software employs models that address both the continuous and the episodic components of crustal motion. For characterizing continuous motion, the models assume that points on the Earth’s surface move with constant horizontal velocities. This assumption is generally acceptable except for the accelerated motion experienced during the years immediately following a major earthquake and for the motion associated with volcanic/magmatic activity. For characterizing the episodic motion associated with earthquakes, the models use the equations of dislocation theory.

While it sounds confusing though, the output is actually fairly easy to understand, the blue shades are slow movement and colors going to the red are faster movements.

You can see in the output, where the San Andreas Faultline lays and why they have so many earthquakes.

While Frank points out that “Google and NOAA” have released an imagery layer for Hurricane Ike after-Imagery.  I thought it would be good to point out that you are NOT limited to Google for this imagery.

You can get the imagery right from NOAA, if you know where to look (It is actually the National Geodetic Survey that is doing the imagery).  Here is the Ike imagery page and also the Gustav imagery page.  You can download the individual images or whole paths of the fly-over imagery.

And if you don’t feel like downloading the imagery and doing the processing yourself, You can view it online as well as in NASA WorldWind with the ZoomIt! layer.

One thing I noticed though while looking at the imagery… the GE imagery.. well, it seems sub-par in quality.  Not to mention it is different imagery that what I have seen from the NGS.  Example:

As you can see these two images are of the same location and about the same altitude.  But they are different times of the day (if not different days) as you can tell from the foam on the water.  But if you look closer you see the “Public Imagery” on the right has a better processing and is much cleaner and sharper in the fine details.

Was reading at All Points Blog about a “new Google Tool” coming soon.. After reading the post, I realized it will basically be the same thing as the NOAA Coastal Risk add-on for WorldWind I put together about two years ago now.  Guess I need to get the data again (it was being updated when I first gathered the data) and get the mapserver serving the data again (Original Mapserver site is down, I have a new spot for the data.. just need to re-upload it).

Now to finish getting ready for a drive out to Pittsburgh for Easter.

In 2007 353 people were rescued because they had personal locater beacons to send a distress signal to NOAA SARSAT satellites.  In it’s 25 year history, COSPAS-SARSAT has been credited with more than 22,000 rescues worldwide.

Alaska and Florida recorded the most rescues in 2007 – 73 each. North Carolina was third with 16 rescues. Twenty-four states experienced a SARSAT rescue. Of the 353 rescues for 2007, 235 people were saved at sea, 30 were rescued from downed aircraft, and 88 were saved with help from their PLBs — the highest total since PLBs became operational nationwide in 2003.

Anyone with plans to hike, or camp, in a remote area, where cell phone service is not reliable, or sail a boat far from shore, should not leave home without an emergency locater beacon, registered with NOAA.

I may just have to download and give Second Life a try.. NOAA now has their own island in the Second Life universe now. What is interesting is the things you can do there.

Soar through a hurricane on the wing of a research aircraft, rise gently through the atmosphere atop a weather balloon or search for a hidden underwater cave on a side trip from a NOAA submersible.

Why Second Life? This sums up the idea nicely:

“We’re experimenting with new ways to conduct science and public education that appeal to a different sensibility and may help a new audience get excited about Earth science,” says ESRL director Alexander (Sandy) MacDonald, who supported development of the site. “Recruiting the next generation of Earth scientists is a priority for NOAA. Our site offers visitors a way to experience the planet through reality-based virtual adventures. Some of them may have shied away from science in the past.”