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Purdue Google Gadgets offer satellite data visualization for everybody

Purdue collects masses of satellite data for use by scientists and state and local officials, but anybody who uses Google now can share in some of this data cornucopia.

Two Google Gadgets — a type of small Web application — created by Purdue staff and students working for ITaP let users see a visual, animated rendering of cloud cover, cloud pressure and water vapor as they change over the entire country and individual states, along with wildfire threats in the Midwest, among other things.

“We give the user a lot of control,” said Lan Zhao, an ITaP research scientist and leader of the project. “They can pause, zoom in and out and also can see a long period, 24 hours.”

Zhao said the gadgets are aimed at elementary, junior high and high school students in particular, along with the public generally.

“The basic goal is actually to make the data reach a broader community, rather than just field researchers,” she said.

The project is intended to highlight the satellite and other remote sensing data ITaP makes available through programs such as the Purdue Terrestrial Observatory and the Purdue Real-Time Satellite Information Gateway (PRESTIGE). The latter is a Web portal to Purdue’s satellite data enabling fast, comprehensive and interactive access by researchers. Purdue also makes PRESTIGE available through the TeraGrid — the National Science Foundation’s open research, education and innovation cyberinfrastructure.

The first gadget was deployed in July and the second in August. The applications had attracted nearly 1,000 visitors from 30 countries by late August.

Add the Purdue gadgets to any Google homepage or personal Web page by visiting the Web site for the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing Web site, ITaP's research-computing arm.

The gadgets also are available by visiting Google Gadget Web site and searching for “Real Time GOES-12 Satellite Viewer," “MODIS Satellite Flash Viewer” or “Purdue TeraGrid.” Those with iGoogle homepages can get to the Google Gadget site by clicking the “Add stuff” link, located near the top on the right side of their pages. The two versions of the GOES-12 viewer employ different technology but have the same functionality.

The data comes through Purdue receiving stations linked to the GOES-12 and MODIS satellites, said Larry Biehl, an ITaP remote-sensing specialist who worked with Zhao and her team on the gadgets. ITaP, Purdue's central information technology organization, operates the stations.

GOES-12 concentrates on cloud and water vapor data. The satellite alternates among views of the continental U.S.; of North America, Central America and part of northern South America; and of the entire globe. The GOES gadget’s settings allow time-lapse views of 2, 12 and 24 hours, with the speed stepped up so someone watching actually sees the changes over seconds or minutes.

The MODIS product viewer, centered on the Midwest U.S. and Canada, draws on data from two NASA Earth-observing satellites featuring higher resolutions and end products different from GOES. The gadget shows the potential for wildfires and sea surface temperatures, including temperatures on the Great Lakes. Zhao and Biehl said it should eventually include plant and snow cover, too. Users can choose views from either satellite, called Terra and Aqua.

Purdue collects nearly 30 gigabytes of data from the satellites a day, Biehl said, part of which feeds the gadgets by means of an automated system. Purdue students Shuang Wu and Rakesh Veeramacheneni, ITaP interns, helped develop the gadget applications. The project was partially funded by a National Science Foundation grant.

Writer: Greg Kline, science and technology writer, ITaP, (765) 494-8167, gkline@purdue.edu

Sources: Lan Zhao, (765) 496-2079, lanzhao@purdue.edu

Larry Biehl, (765) 494-3529, biehl@purdue.edu

IMAGE CAPTION:

Screen shot showing a visual display of cloud cover data over the United States in the Purdue Google Gadget for the GOES-12 satellite. Users can get animated 2-, 12- and 24-hour pictures and zoom in on individual states.

Last updated: Oct. 5, 2009