Over90 SOS Installations

around the world+

other spherical displays

Aldo Leopold Nature CenterMonona, WI

American Association for theAdvancement of Science

CIMSS/SSEC/UW-MadisonMadison, WI

2011 Highlights

Snow & Ice Cover with NAO+

Ocean TemperatureAnomalies

2012 Atlantic TropicalCyclones

Why was 2011 considered a year of extremes?

How does the 2012 hurricane season compare

to other years?

Why did the U.S. have such a mild Winter, while other parts of the

world had such cold temperatures?

Smithsonian ZooWashington, DC

What’s the difference between weather and climate?

Better understanding of Earth Systems, and how they relate to one another

EDUCATION STRATEGY

• Further develops NOAA’s education strategy.

• Aligned with Ocean and Climate Literacy principles and concepts.

• Climate is regulated by complex interactions among components of the Earth System

• Our understanding of the climate system is improved through observations, theoretical studies, and modeling

• Climate varies over space and time though both natural and man-made processes

• Climate change will have consequences for the Earth system and human lives

• The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate

PROJECT FUTURE

• Incorporate educational resources for docents and teachers.

• Foster partnership with SOS sites, including NOAA HQ SOS. These SOS sites would participate in an EarthNow Workshop and serve as EarthNow Model Institutions.

• Continue monthly climate digest (primary sources: NCDC, CPC), while developing more complex weather/climate connections.

PROJECT PROGRESS

• EarthNow Blog, including mobile version, operational for 14 months, following front-end evaluation.

• Approx. 6,000 visits, with month to month growth.

• Positive feedback at SOS Users Workshop.

• Audio/Narration Capabilities for non-docent presentations.

• Video summaries for docents and broader public.

NOAA ESRLBoulder, CO

EarthNowWebsite/Blog

EarthNow: Weather and Climate Connections for 3D Spherical Displays 1Patrick Rowley, 1Steve Ackerman, 2Phil Arkin, 1Rick Kohrs, 1Margaret Mooney, 3Dan Pisut, and 2Stephanie Schollaert Uz

1Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), Space Science & Engineering Center (SSEC), UW- Madison,2Cooperative Institute for Climate & Satellites (CICS-MD), University of Maryland, 3NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab

http://sphere.ssec.wisc.edu/

MAKING CONNECTIONS

By providing timely weather and climate stories and using a variety of datasets to address common questions (below), it is possible to show the connection between weather events, long term changes in climate, ‐and shorter scale climatic cycles. This will ultimately allow for more broad conversations on climate science.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Interpretation of Real-time Weather and Climate for Spherical Displays (EarthNow) project from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) allows Science On a Sphere (SOS) institutions to go beyond the scientific facts to create meaningful visitor experiences about weather and climate connections. CIMSS, in collaboration with the NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab and the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, regularly updates a blog-style website, providing a central location for SOS facilitators to find timely weather and climate stories to speak about how current events affect and are affected by global change. Along with these stories, the website also provides relevant, visually appealing SOS-formatted datasets, animations, and narration with appropriate annotations, leading to easier comprehension by presenters and the public.

PRIMARY GOALS

• Provide real-time NOAA weather and ocean data.• Provide NOAA generated climate monitoring information.• Provide annotation for SOS and other spherical displays.• Provide appropriate training and stories for docents.

NauticusNorfolk, VA

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CONTACTPatrick Rowley • CIMSS/SSEC, UW-Madison • patrick.rowley@ssec.wisc.edu

2010: ELG for Informal/Nonformal Education • (SEC-OED-2010-2002248), Award #: NA10SEC0080015