Scientists around the world are increasingly using satellite technology to study life on earth. Small, inexpensive transponders attached to animals track their movement and interaction with humans, helping scientists and activists protect endangered species. Oceana, an international organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the world’s oceans, teamed with shark researchers to study the fishing industry’s impact on one shark species. VOA’s George Putic reports.
Oceana created Global Fishing Watch to use satellite data to map fishing activities around the world. From their collection of videos, here is a sampling of three:
** Space Station Transits the Moon | NASA – Though the ISS flies just a few hundred kilometers above the earth, it appears to be passing over the Moon in this photo:
** GMS: 2017 Hurricanes and Aerosols Simulation – Watch last summer’s hurricanes form and move towards North America in this marvelous video of atmospheric aerosol particles created from data captured by satellite sensors:
** GMS: How Solar Flares Affect Earth – “A team of scientists —led by Laura Hayes, a solar physicist who splits her time between NASA Goddard and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland— investigated a connection between solar flares and Earth’s atmosphere. They discovered pulses in the electrified layer of the atmosphere—called the ionosphere—mirrored X-ray oscillations during a July 24, 2016 flare.”
A movie of weather across the globe during October of 2017.
Our series of monthly weather videos shows a combination of infrared imagery from the geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites of EUMETSAT, NOAA, the CMA and the JMA which, together, continuously observe the Earth’s surface 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
This data is used to help forecasters predict weather patterns and warn citizens of adverse weather conditions, hours and sometimes days in advance.
SpaceX has now successfully landed 15 first stage boosters in a row and 19 total. However, it took several rounds of trial and error to achieve that success: