Weather Archives

June 25, 2009

Hurricane/Cyclone Tracking with Google Earth

One of Google Earth's most powerful features is the ability to pull in real-time information from other sites and overlay the information for visualization (thanks to the network link). Weather data is one of my favorite applications in Google Earth of this ability. Imagine pulling in the latest satellite photos, radar animations, hurricane tracking, live web cams on the ground, sea surface temperature analysis, etc. Well, you can do all that with the set of the very best weather tools for Google Earth which GEB has bundled together into this: the weather and storm tracking tools collection . Simply drag this network link into your Places folder to keep it handy. It won't take up space until you turn it on. It first loads several folders of weather tools you can explore. You may want to turn only one layer on at a time - these layers weren't designed to all be turned on at once. Although, some of the layers are complimentary (like current lightning strikes with clouds or storms turned on). Read more about the storm tracking tools.

Google has added a new Hurricane Season 2009 layer in the Weather layer folder. It also will automatically highlight current named storms. But, the tools in the collection above will take you much further if you have an interest in weather. Check out this GEB video of storm tracking (from 2007) in Google Earth:

NOTE: Many of these storm tracking tools have been around for some time. While they are still cool, I'd love to see some weather sites using the Google Earth API to full advantage. Weather data is great stuff when viewed in Google Earth.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:48 AM | Comments (0)

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June 9, 2009

Air France Flight 447 - Google Earth Map

Yesterday I decided to check the Google Earth Community to see what kind of maps had been created for the location of the crash site of Air France Flight 447. There's an active thread on the crash in the Current Events forum. There are several useful maps like this one by 'rafaelds' which shows the approximate flight, when radar contact was lost, and the position when the last signal was received.

The map I found most useful to explaining what probably happened to Air France 447 is this image overlay of a weather map at the time of the crash (post by 'smokeonit' who is a GEB regular).

Download the maps and zoom in a bit to see the weather conditions the plane decided to go through. Dark on a radar map like this is very bad weather. The pilot of Flight 447 took the plane through the absolute worst part of a very big storm. He had radar and could have diverted. The question is, why didn't he divert around it? My condolences to the families of those lost in Flight 447. [UPDATE: GEB reader 'Alex' left a comment about some analysis of the weather system. It appears some reports did not show the bad weather, and analysis shows it developed suddenly. Further, the area the pilot flew through may have been a collapsing megacell which appeared safe up until the moment they went through. It can be hard to predict mother nature!]

Posted by FrankTaylor at 9:03 AM | Comments (12)

June 5, 2009

US Drought Conditions in Google Earth by NOAA

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (better known as NOAA) has been producing a number of useful KML files which can be viewed in Google Earth. Today I'm highlighting a collection of updated drought maps which can be viewed with the time animation feature in Google Earth. NOAA has several collections at this web page which cover the year 2000 through to the present. The maps highlight the regions of drought conditions with colored contours which indicate the severity of drought (Dark red is the most severe). I recommend only loading a single year at a time unless you have a lot of memory. (The one covering the full ten year range is recommended to only be used with GE Pro because it only seems to work with Pro.) To illustrate (and save you the time to load), I've created a video showing the 2005 to present animation:

Other examples of NOAA data available in Google Earth:

• Numerous Weather Data Collections from NOAA
• Great Lakes Bathymetry in Google Earth
• NOAA Coral Reef Data
• Right Whales Sightings

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:56 AM | Comments (5)

April 17, 2009

Wilkins Ice Shelf Collapse in Google Earth

The news came out just a few days ago that the last remaining bridge of ice connecting two islands in Antarctica disintegrated and the Wilkins Ice Shelf is now just a pile of broken ice. Now, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has released a Google Earth time animation showing satellite photos of the break-up of the Wilkins Ice Shelf over the past few weeks, including the final bridge collapse. You can watch the time animation of the photos of the collapse here (600 Kbytes). After the file loads, just hit the play button in the time slider that appears in the upper left of Google Earth. This and other interesting Google Earth content is available at the NSIDC site.

via OgleEarth

Related: Arctic Ice Melting Animation

[UPDATE 22-April: Thanks to some suggestions I made, NSIDC reduced their file size on the above GE File from 17 MBytes to 600K - they liked my suggestions. :-) They had full-sized PNGs. I suggested smaller JPG files instead.]

Posted by FrankTaylor at 8:35 AM | Comments (1)

December 5, 2008

Links: GE Plugin Update, KML Contest Update, Panoramio Contest, Teaching with GE, Santa Video

• GE Plugin Update - As mentioned Tuesday night, the Google Earth plugin became available for Mac OS X. Google announced the update also included an update to the Windows version as well. The update includes startup time improvements on Windows, KML parsing and renderings speed improvements, and some bug fixes (see release notes). Not only that, but Google released a new game to be played inside the plugin called Puzzler. Check out the GE Plugin catagory here at GEB for lots of plugin examples.

• KML Contest Update - The deadline for the KML in Research contest has been extended to February 1st. Scientists, researchers, and students can submit their research oriented KML and win a Garmin GPS, and Apple iPod Touch.

• Panoramio Contest Winners - Winners of the October Panoramio monthly photo contest have been announced. Winners of the monthly contest get handy photo accessories from the sponsor ATP.

• Teaching with Google Earth - This looks like an excellent resource for GeoScience teachers on using Google Earth to teach. This was forwarded to me by GEB reader Glenn Richard of Stony Brook University. It also has some excellent overviews and guides for teaching with Google Earth which might be useful for any teacher. Definitely worth checking out.

• Santa video - On Sunday, GEB mentioned about how Google is working again with Norad to track Santa with Google Earth on Christmas Eve. And, Norad also has a countdown to Christmas with different games and stuff each day in December. As part of Google's announcement of this year's event, they showed a cool video of Santa's journey last year flying around the world (using Google Earth as a backdrop). This video was created by Transvideo Studios for Google:

• Weather Tools For GE - Got an e-mail a while back from Bryan Guarente who has been working on compiling useful weather KML content into a massive KML network link bundle of weather data. Here is a list of what is in the bundle. Bryan is an instructional designer with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and so has some experience on where to find some good weather resources.

Posted by FrankTaylor at 7:33 AM | Comments (0)

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More entries for this category:

6. Links: Where 2.0, Weather Buoys, Argentina, Earthscape, MapMyPage, and more - November 19, 2008
7. California Fires - November 2008 - November 16, 2008
8. New Virtual Earth with 3D Clouds - September 25, 2008
9. More Detailed Arctic Ice Melting Animation in Google Earth - September 19, 2008
10. Google/NOAA Release Post-Hurricane Ike Aerial Imagery in Google Earth - September 16, 2008
11. Track Hurricane Ike in Google Earth - September 10, 2008
12. Links: Hurricane Ike, GeoEye Launched, Aviation Maps, McClendon in Kansas - September 8, 2008
13. Google Earth News Roundup - September 5, 2008
14. Track Hurricane Hanna in Google Earth - September 1, 2008
15. Track Hurricane Gustav in Google Earth - August 29, 2008
16. Links: Panoramio Contest, Lunar Challenge, Fire Detection - August 28, 2008
17. Watch Arctic Ice Melting in Google Earth - August 11, 2008
18. Live Hurricane Hunter Missions in Google Earth - July 21, 2008
19. Storm Tracking With Google Earth - July 3, 2008
20. Popular Science Highlights Scientific Applications of Google Earth - June 20, 2008
21. Climate Change Data for Google Earth - May 20, 2008
22. Myanmar Cyclone Data in Google Earth - May 6, 2008
23. NASA Time Animation of Ionosphere For Google Earth - May 5, 2008
24. Wilkins Ice Shelf, Sea Ice Extent Animation - March 28, 2008
25. Global Temperature Trends for Google Earth - March 24, 2008
26. Google Adds More Countries with Weather Radar Layer - March 20, 2008
27. NOAA Weather Data in Google Earth - February 25, 2008
28. Accuweather Photo Calendar Winners in Google Earth - January 24, 2008
29. Top 25 Stories of Google Earth 2007 - December 27, 2007
30. Links: Daily Earth Imagery, Antarctica Photos, Panoramio Searchable, Santa Sleigh - December 18, 2007
31. Tropical Cyclone Sidr in Google Earth - November 16, 2007
32. Big Layer Update - Weather Layers in Google Earth - November 8, 2007
33. Caribbean 1500 Sailing Cup in Google Earth - November 5, 2007
34. Links: Chinese Cop Catches Crook, Malibu Fire, EveryTrail Update, CIA WorldFactbook, Hungary Weather - October 22, 2007
35. Hurricane Followspot Animations in Google Earth - October 4, 2007
36. Back to School - Educational Uses with Google Earth - September 11, 2007
37. News Roundup: Flight Sim Tips, Clouds and Weather, KML 2.2, Google Solar Panels, Pollution - September 10, 2007
38. Video Showing Storm Tracking Tools for Google Earth - August 20, 2007
39. Best Storm Tracking and Weather Tools for Google Earth - August 15, 2007
40. News Roundup - Flickr KML tags, Weather, Arc2Earth V2 - August 13, 2007
41. Quasi-global Near real-time Rainfall in Google Earth - July 3, 2007
42. Google Earth Sky - Part II - June 25, 2007
43. How to Add a Sky to Google Earth - June 24, 2007
44. Global Lightning Animation for Google Earth - June 14, 2007
45. Monthly Cloud Animations for Google Earth - June 7, 2007
46. Weather and Storm Tracking Tools for Google Earth - June 2, 2007
47. Rising Water Effects for NYC in Google Earth - Part III - May 25, 2007
48. Google Earth Umbrella - May 16, 2007
49. News Roundup - Nokia N95, gCensus US, Greensburg Radar Animation - May 14, 2007
50. New Satellite Imagery of Town Destroyed by Tornado - May 9, 2007
51. News Roundup - Taj Majal in 3D, KML as Open Standard, Katrina Imagery, New AIA150 Tour - May 8, 2007
52. EarthNC Releases Browser-based Google Earth Content - April 26, 2007
53. Animation Roundup: Rising Sea Levels, Filling Grand Canyon, Global Clouds - April 6, 2007
54. Historical Maps of Tornado Paths in the US - April 3, 2007
55. Google Shows Pre-Katrina Photos for New Orleans - March 30, 2007
56. New Snow and Ice Data for Google Earth - March 5, 2007
57. Happy International Polar Year! Google Earth Presentation - March 2, 2007
58. Fox Television Offering Google Earth/Maps Weather Data - February 12, 2007
59. Recent Weather Satellite Animations in Google Earth - February 1, 2007
60. News roundup: Google vs. Microsoft, 3D San Jose, Endurance, Weather, Off the Map - January 23, 2007
61. NOAA Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) Weather Feed for Google Earth - January 13, 2007
62. NASA Goddard Publishes Huge Google Earth Time Animations - December 10, 2006
63. NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab Publishes Google Earth Content - December 8, 2006
64. History: The Flood of Florence in 1966 with Google Earth - December 1, 2006
65. Earth on Fire - November 4, 2006
66. National Weather Service Releases Radar Loops for Google Earth - October 26, 2006
67. Katrina Time Animation in Google Earth - September 25, 2006
68. Track Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Lane in Google Earth - September 16, 2006
69. New Storms - Track Hurricane Gordon, Typhoon Shanshan - September 13, 2006
70. Track Tropical Storm Florence in Google Earth - September 6, 2006
71. Global Clouds with Altitude for GE 4 - September 3, 2006
72. Hurricane John Threatens West Mexico Coastline - August 30, 2006
73. Back to School - Educational Uses with Google Earth - August 29, 2006
74. Track Hurricane Ernesto in Google Earth - August 27, 2006
75. Track Tropical Storm Ernesto in Google Earth - August 25, 2006
76. High Resolution Satellite Photo of Typhoon Saomai - August 11, 2006
77. Homemade Network of Real-time Lightning Data - See it in Google Earth - August 9, 2006
78. Tropical Storms in the Pacific - Maria, Typhoon Saomai, and Bopha - August 8, 2006
79. Tropical Storm Chris - August 1, 2006
80. Weather Forecasts for South America in Google Earth/ Pronostico America del Sur - July 13, 2006
81. Weather and Storm Tracking Tools for Google Earth - July 3, 2006
82. NASA Lightning Map in Google Earth - June 20, 2006
83. Near Real-time Severe Weather Data for the US from NOAA - May 31, 2006
84. Real-time Stream Flow Sensor Net in Google Earth - May 14, 2006
85. Gulf Impact - Analysis of Damage to Oil/Gas Industry from Hurricanes - May 9, 2006
86. Near Real-time Ocean/Weather Data - April 28, 2006
87. NOAA's Coral Reef Watch Adds Google Earth Data - April 13, 2006
88. Global Cloud Map is Back - April 3, 2006
89. Follow Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4 in Google Earth - February 19, 2006
90. Pilot World-wide Weather in Google Earth - February 8, 2006
91. News Roundup - February 7, 2006
92. More Satellite Environmental Data in Google Earth - January 31, 2006
93. NASA Annual Day Land Temperatures of the Earth - January 30, 2006
94. Global Fire Data in Google Earth - January 26, 2006
95. Arctic and Antarctic Ice Floes in Google Earth - January 25, 2006
96. Aurora Viewing Map in Google Earth - January 5, 2006
97. Tropical Storm Zeta - January 4, 2006
98. Fantastic Google Earth Documentary on Sir Ernest Shackleton - November 14, 2005
99. Post-Wilma NOAA Aerial Photography Released - October 26, 2005
100. Hurricane Wilma Google Earth Imagery - October 24, 2005
101. Hurricane Wilma Most Intense Atlantic Storm - October 20, 2005
102. Storm Tracking Tools - Hurricane Wilma - October 19, 2005
103. Nice Global Cloud Map - September 26, 2005
104. Hurricane Rita - Using Google Earth to Track - September 23, 2005
105. Storm Tracking Tools - Hurricanes Rita/Phillipe - September 20, 2005
106. Hurricane Katrina - Summary of Google Earth Resources - September 16, 2005
107. Hurricane Ophelia High-Res Satellite - September 15, 2005
108. Much Improved Method for Viewing Katrina Damage Imagery - September 8, 2005
109. Latest FEMA Katrina Damage Assessment Overlay - September 6, 2005
110. News Coverage on Google Earth and Hurricane Help - September 5, 2005
111. [UPDATE] Google Releasing Katrina Imagery - September 2, 2005
112. New Katrina Damage Photos in Google Earth - September 1, 2005
113. Hurricane Katrina Video and Google Earth - August 31, 2005
114. Hurricanes/Tropical Data - August 26, 2005
115. All Atlantic Hurricanes 1851-Present - August 20, 2005
116. Clouds of the Earth - August 8, 2005
117. Hurricane Tracking - August 1, 2005

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