Featured Article

The World’s Very First Marine Research Station In Ostend (Belgium)

In the mid-1800’s Belgian biologist Pierre Joseph Van Beneden established the first marine research station. This station attracted researchers from across Europe and inspired the establishment of other scientific facilities. In this essay, the authors provide an overview of Van Beneden’s works and the significance of his station.

Matthias Breyne et al., posted on August 18th, 2010
Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Featured Article, Oceans | No Comments »

Education Around Earth – Analyzing the Spatial Distribution of 4 Crops with a Geographic Information System

For centuries, maps have stirred imaginations and inspired explorations of the unknown. For the past 40 years, GIS has quietly transformed everyday decision making in academia, government, nonprofit, and in business through the manipulation of satellite imagery, maps, graphs, databases, and multimedia in a decision-making framework. Agriculture was one of the first fields to embrace GIS, applied to everything from precision agriculture to invasive weed eradication to sustainable practices.

Joseph Kerski, posted on September 23rd, 2009
Agriculture, Articles, Education, Featured Article | No Comments »

Benefits of GEOSS: A Panel Discussion

There are over six billion people on this planet, 193 countries and more than five thousand languages. No matter the nationality or language spoken or the location, everyone is inextricably linked and hence affected by global environmental change.

Paul Racette, posted on November 17th, 2008
Earth Observation, Featured Article, GEOSS/ICEO News, Technology | No Comments »

A Brief History Of Radio – Echo Sounding Of Ice

The application of radio-echo sounding (RES) to thickness measurements of glacial and sheet ice has been demonstrated since the early 1960s. The concept for this approach can be traced to 1933 at Admiral Byrd’s base, Little America, Antarctica where the first indication that snow and ice are transparent to high frequency radio signal was observed.

Christopher Allen, posted on September 26th, 2008
Articles, Earth Observation, Featured Article, Technology | 1 Comment »

Changing Sun, Changing Earth

How and why does the Sun’s energy change, and how does the Earth respond? We care about these changes, and seek improved understanding of their causes and consequences. We do this because society urgently seeks to quantify anthropogenic and natural causes of climate change, because we are increasingly reliant on the technological benefits of space assets, and because we utilize and explore extensive environmental domains well beyond the surface where we live.

Judith Lean, posted on August 28th, 2008
Articles, Earth Observation, Energy, Feature, Featured Article, Weather | 1 Comment »

For The Benefit Of Society

Given the IEEE’s technical scope and global presence, our 375,000 members have a tremendous opportunity to contribute. In fact, our members are already involved in a number of such projects. For example, the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation has since 2005 been involved in the International Group on Earth Observations and its effort to create a Global Earth Observation System of Systems.

Lewis Terman, posted on May 29th, 2008
Earth Observation, Featured Article, GEOSS/ICEO News, OpEd, Technology | No Comments »

Orbital Sunrise

The Expedition 24 crew on the International Space Station photographed this image of polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by an orbital sunrise. Polar mesospheric, or noctilucent ("night shining"), clouds usually are seen at twilight, following the setting of the sun below the horizon and darkening of Earth's surface. Occasionally the station's orbital track becomes nearly parallel to Earth's day/night terminator for a time, allowing the clouds to be visible to the crew at times other than the usual twilight because of the station's altitude. This photograph shows polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by the rising, rather than setting, sun at center right. Low clouds on the horizon appear yellow and orange, while higher clouds and aerosols are illuminated a brilliant white. Polar mesospheric clouds appear as light blue ribbons extending across the top of the image. The station was located over the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean Sea (near the southwestern coastline of Turkey) when the image was taken at approximately midnight local time. The orbital complex was tracking northeastward, nearly parallel to the terminator, making it possible to observe an apparent "sunrise" located almost due north. A similar unusual alignment of the ISS orbit track, terminator position and seasonal position of Earth's orbit around the sun allowed for this striking imagery of over the Southern Hemisphere. Image Credit: NASA
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