Explore Our Planet

While a proper configured WMS server is able to serve tiles off nearly all sizes some clients use an algorythm to stitch tiles with same size together. For example google maps usually request 256×256 px wide tiles.

Using bigger tiles leads to less requests against the server and faster display in your internet browser. On the server side the number of different tiles is no longer endless and a caching is an option. Lucian Plesea extended the WMS protocol to a tiled WMS and speeds up NASA’s JPL OnEarth WMS server.

The new map pack (1444) provides all served maps from this capabilities file except the single monthly Blue Marble Next Generation. Most interesting is Daily Terra combined with the 2007 version of Blue Marble as background. Daily Terra is updated every day and the colors match perfectly BMNG.

This map pack requests 512×512px sized tiles, the performance is much better than the standard OneEarth WMS - zooming and moving means more fun now. Unfortunatly WMS overlays do not work with this projection (for now), but all point data (placenames, weather, tropical storms, videos, hotels, photos, … ) are displayed at the right place.

Up to 80 different fires claimed already more than 50 lives in Greece, Europe. Yesterday Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis declared a nationwide state of emergency, mobilizing all resources.

International help started arriving today, with planes or firemen from France, Italy, and Cyprus and more help expected from Serbia, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. Since June more than 3,000 fires have razed thousands of hectares of forests and scrubland across the country - nearly triple last year’s total - according to officials.

The smoke ranges from Greece to Tripolis, Lybia. Photo captured by Daily Terra - 2007-08-25.

Currently the amount of wildfires in Europe is scary. Though mostly inflamed by business interests or to satisfy the desire for revenge the weather conditions are to blame for spreading and impact.

At present the gallery of Modis shows more satellite pictures of wildfires all over the planet. Picture above is from NASA’s MAP ‘06 Project

The Black Sea forms an enclosed basin, located between south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. In this satellite picture, captured by Daily Terra , 2007-02-24, cold wind from North-East condensates water vapour in warmer air over the sea and forms clouds.

Cyclone Favio made landfall Thursday in southern Mozambique with powerful winds over 200kph, heavy rains and new misery to tens of thousands of people already forced from their homes by flooding.

About 30 people were killed in Mozambique and nearly 90,000 forced from their homes by the floods. The government said 37,000 people were being housed in tented camps before Favio struck.

Mozambique’s worst disaster occurred recently in 2000-2001 when a series of cyclones caused flooding in southern and central parts of the country, killing 700 people and forcing close to half a million to leave their homes.

A second cyclone, called Gamede, is also expected to make landfall today. Depression 16s is still unnamed and may become tropical storm Humba.

Picture credit: Naval Research Labaratory Satellite view is updated daily.

Update: UNOSAT provides a map for the humanitarian community:
Zambezi Flood Monitoring Change Detection near Muturara [jpg, 3mb]

On February 6, 2007, Terra satellite shot this impressive picture showing cloud streets caused by strong wind over the Sea of Okhotsk. During the winter this part of Siberia is frozen and large chunks of sea ice float on the water.

More at Earth Observatory: Sea of Okhotsk or at Modis Web

The Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) integrates remote sensing and GIS technologies to deliver MODIS active fire locations to natural resource managers and other stakeholders around the World in near real time. With a resolution of 1 square kilometers the service detects fires or thermal anomalies (volcanoes, …).

Fire detection is performed using a contextual algorithm that exploits the strong emission of mid-infrared radiation from fires. Under ideal conditions the smallest flaming fire that can be routinely detected is approximately 50 m

Last weekend Sweden was hit by a strong storm with wind speeds of more than 100kph. Falling trees killed at least five people and hundreds of thousands were left without power. An estimated amount of that 12 million cubic metres of forest was felled.

The bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark was temporarily shut to all traffic, while nearly all train departures in southern Sweden and parts of Norway were canceled. The Swedish weather service SMHI said the storm was the worst to hit the country in two years.

Germany’s famous North Sea island and symbol Sylt lost 700,00 m3 sand used to protect the coast. Climate scientists warn more and more efforts are needed to save island from rising sea levels and Climate Change.

Tomorrow depression Kyrill is expected to arrive in Germany with hurricane strength. German weather service DWD warns gusts will have up to 150kph and whole country should prepare for heavy rain and Beaufort 11-12.

zdf.de: Orkan “Kyrill” kommt nach Deutschland

Picture credit: Naval Research Laboratory

Last december and this January appears unusually mild to many people of the northern hemisphere. There are not only reports of higher temperatures, trees and flowers started to bloom in winter, ice bears dropped hibernation and migratory birds decided to stay home in their summer habitat.

NASA’s Earth Observatory used data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite and compared December surface temperature with average December temperatures from 2000-2005. Picture above shows hotter regions in red, some places have been up to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than in the recent past.

Nature prepares for Global Warming, when do mankind adapt?

Picture credit: Jesse Allen, based on data from Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land Surface Temperature Group, Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Cape Verde islands are in the mid-Atlantic, roughly off the coast of Mauritania and Senegal. Though 300miles away from continent Karman vortices are build and visible in this picture captured by Daily Terra, 2006-01-02.