Abstract

Katrina. Climate change. Rising sea levels. Low lake levels. These headliners, and countless others like them, underscore the need to better understand our changing oceans and lakes. Over the past decade, efforts such as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) have added to this understanding, through the creation of interoperable ocean observing systems. These systems, including buoy networks, gliders, UAV's, etc, have resulted in a dramatic increase in the amount of Earth observation data available to the public. Unfortunately, these data tend to be restrictive to mass consumption, owing to large file sizes, incompatible formats, and/or a dearth of user friendly visualization software. Google Earth offers a flexible way to visualize Earth observation data. Marrying high resolution orthoimagery, user friendly query and navigation tools, and the power of OGC's KML standard, Google Earth can make observation data universally understandable and accessible. This presentation will feature examples of meteorological and oceanographic data visualized using KML and Google Earth, along with tools and tips for integrating other such environmental datasets.