NASA Near Earth Observations in Google Earth

We recently came across an interesting set of animations on YouTube. They are:

The data for the animations comes from NASA Near Earth Observation data. We mentioned this site in 2007, but there is a lot more data available than there was then. We count 71 different datasets, many of which include daily data for most of the world and fairly comprehensive monthly data. We had a look at the Average Cloud Cover map earlier this year.

The YouTube animations above only go up to 2013, but the data is actually available almost to the current date. All the maps can be viewed in Google Earth. Just look to the right of the map under “File Type” and select “Google Earth” and then select the highest resolution available and it will download as a KML file viewable in Google Earth.

Outgoing longwave radiation – September 2015

It is also relatively easy to download a series of images and create an animation similar to the YouTube videos. For example, we created this KMZ file that shows an animation of Solar Insolation for the past year. For best results, click the spanner icon on the timeslider and make sure ‘loop animation’ is ticked. To run the animation click the icon that looks like a combined clock and a play button on the time slider.

About Timothy Whitehead

Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.