Scientists Lower Barriers to Big Data from Space
Researchers at Michigan State University are working to make vast amounts of satellite data more accessible to ecologists. The project aims to help scientists better predict species distribution by simplifying the processing of complex environmental datasets.
Why it matters
Improving access to big data from space is critical for climate change research and biodiversity conservation efforts.
Zooming from her office, Michigan State University researcher Kelly Kapsar showed off stunning satellite images from across the United States.
In some, different colors revealed the precise heights of the forested ridges in the Sierra Nevada or the craggy peaks of the Rockies and the valleys between them. Others showed the pine flatwoods of southern Florida, or the smooth rolling grasslands of the Kansas prairie.
The images were taken by the space shuttle Endeavor during a 2000 mission to make detailed radar maps of planet's surface.
Endeavour orbited Earth 16 times a day during the 11-day mission. In that time it took more than a trillion elevation measurements, generating a whopping 12.3 terabytes of data.
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