The NASA Earth Observatory is a visually stimulating portal to a wealth of information from the Earth Observing System Project Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Observatory’s mission is “to share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate that emerge from NASA research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and models.” The Observatory’s content is best experienced via browsing or by serendipitously clicking on the tags and related links that are provided. There is however a very basic search option on the site. All the content is rich with images, most of which are free to reuse (unless copyright is indicated). So, the Earth Observatory is a great image resource for students and faculty to use in their lessons, presentations, or research. The Earth Observatory is also active on social media, including posts for “image of the day” and a specialized feed for kids.

EXPLORING CONTENT

There are two main ways to browse content: by type (Images, Global Maps, Articles, or Blogs) or by topic (Atmosphere, Heat, Human Presence, Land, Life, Natural Event, Remote Sensing, Snow & Ice, and Water). Icons are used to distinguish the types and topics of the content (see Fig. 1). Both browsing methods provide many further opportunities to explore through the tags and extensive linking.

CONTENT TYPES

Images are more than just pictures. Each image is presented with detailed context that describes the image’s importance and the instruments used for its capture.

Global Maps are interactive world maps that show the changes in various meteorological and environmental topics over time. For example, one shows land surface temperature from 2000-2020 (Fig. 2). Each map includes an explanation of the importance of the map and tags that relate to the map’s topic.

Articles provide more in-depth information on current events or discoveries. For example, an article from earlier this year discusses the seasonal cycles of respiratory diseases : “Could COVID-19 Have Seasons? Searching for Signals in Earth Data.” Articles include a combination of images, video, charts, references, and more. Articles from the Earth Observatory are a great point-of-entry for students to learn about topics new to them or can serve as a source of potential research topics.

The Blogs include posts often relating to current events or news and target specific audiences or topics. Those that are currently updated (Earth Matters, Notes from the Field, and EO Kids) have at least one post per month. Climate Q&A and Elegant Figures are no longer current. EO Kids provides a blog and downloadable a PDF targeted to ages 9-14. The PDF is a topical lesson of sorts that includes information as well as DIY at-home science activities.   

EO EXPLORER

Additionally, the site provides a link to EO Explorer. EO Explorer allows discovery of the Observatory’s content through an interactive map interface. Content is grouped together and browsable by location (see Fig. 3).

Melissa Gold, Science Librarian, Millersville University of Pennsylvania

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