Oceana marine scientist Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb is at the COP16 climate negotiations in Cancun.
Last week I decided to take a break from the negotiations and attend a workshop by Google where they released their new technology platform Google Earth Engine.
This is a very exciting development that could be incredibly useful to scientists, NGOs and the general community in monitoring and measuring changes in earth systems. This platform will have reams and reams of satellite imagery data than can then be analyzed with various tools, including statistical and modeling programs. Computations will be done in the “cloud” so that work that would have previously taken many hours to days or even years can be done over very short time periods.
Oceana has once again teamed up with Google to create a powerful new educational tool about the oceans. In the new Google Earth 6.0 tour, “Ocean Acid Test,” Oceana scientist Dr. Jeffrey Short explains the science and effects of ocean acidification, particularly the threats facing shell-producing creatures, such as crabs, lobsters and corals.
Coinciding with the start of the United Nations’ COP16 climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, the tour was unveiled today at Google Earth’s Outreach hompage: www.google.com/cop16 and will also be revealed at the Google Earth booth in Cancun. Oceana will also be holding a presentation at COP 16 to highlight the global threat of ocean acidification.