climate change

Using Google Earth to predict sea level rise

March 18, 2014

A new study released recently by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Innsbruck includes some impactful visualizations of what sea level rise could mean to various historic sites over the next 2000 years. Using Andrew David Thaler’s Drown Your Town technique, they created images such as this:

The reason for going 2000 years into the future was because “projections for global sea level rise during the next century vary widely, to smooth out any uncertainties in long-term forecasts.” To compound the problem, the Google Earth overlay for this can be inaccurate as Andrew mentioned on his site:

These are not perfect models of sea level rise, they are just useful (and entertaining) visualization tools. The topology in Google Earth is not perfect (you will find places where the sea itself is higher than you sea level rise layer).

All of that said, it’s still an interesting look at our possible future, and some of the images are very thought-provoking. You can check out the full article here or read the full study here.

The Google Earth Climate Change, Pollution and Privacy Viewer

January 3, 2014

Google Earth is an amazing tool for studying and sharing information about our planet’s climate. Frank first shared a climate-related story back in 2006 (UNEP’s New Environment Layer in Google Earth) and we’ve posted many more since then. If you enjoy these kinds of tools, then you’ll find that the “Climate Viewer 3D“ is quite amazing.

The describe the tool as:

Climate Viewer 3D empowers the user with cutting-edge technology, real-time situational awareness, and a visual tour of our planetary problems. With a plethora of controls, data sources, Google Earth interface, and fresh content daily, what are you waiting for?

It certainly is a great tool. Try it for yourself at climateviewer.com/3D or learn more about how it works by reading this tutorial on their blog.

Mapping climate change in Google Earth

September 27, 2013

MyReadingMapped has been doing some great work lately. A few days ago we showed you their collection of plane wrecks in Google Earth and not long before that was a great collection of sunken ships. Now they’re back with some interesting maps related to climate change, including one titled “The rise, fall, and migration of civilization due to climate change“.

Here is how the new maps came about:

Recently I discovered there is a lot of interest online concerning migration and the collapse civilization due to climate change. Just Google it and see the large volume of articles predicting the short-term future. However, one of the things these articles do not do well is discuss how climate change occurred in the past. Which leave a big opening for the anti-global warming crowd to challenge it. They all to some degree mention specific events but none do so to any great extent. They mainly focus on the future. However, these white papers and articles are less convincing because they don’t emphasize the past enough. So I decided to cover as many as I could find and created a Google Map of The Rise, Fall and Migration of Civilization Due To Climate Change.

After the map start getting some attention, they matched it up with a few other climate-related maps.

The Google Map of Climate Change which shows examples of where and how climate changed.
The Geography of the Köppen Climate Classification System enables visitors to see whether today’s weather matches the Köppen Climate Classification System of more than 100 years ago if they turn on Google Map’s weather feature. Visitors can zoom in on the geography of each classification to see how today’s weather patterns apply to the 100″ year old system.

An article that is a visual library of each classification.

Beyond that, they created a Carbon Capture Report using the system created by the University of Illinois. All in all, they’ve compiled a lot of data for these maps and Google Earth/Maps is a fantastic way to show it off.