[Gfoss] NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth

Paolo Cavallini cavallini a faunalia.it
Mar 30 Giu 2009 16:25:08 CEST


Ma io dico: quanto ci vorra' prima che anche i nostri enti facciano lo
stesso?

-------- Messaggio Originale  --------
> > NEWS RELEASE: 2009-103
> > June 29, 2009
> > 
> > NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth
> > 
> > PASADENA, Calif. – NASA and Japan released a new digital topographic
> > map of Earth Monday that covers more of our planet than ever before.
> > The map was produced with detailed measurements from NASA's Terra
> > spacecraft.
> > 
> > The new global digital elevation model of Earth was created from
> > nearly 1.3 million individual stereo-pair images collected by the
> > Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
> > Radiometer, or Aster, instrument aboard Terra. NASA and Japan's
> > Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, known as METI, developed
> > the data set. It is available online to users everywhere at no cost.
> > 
> > "This is the most complete, consistent global digital elevation data
> > yet made available to the world," said Woody Turner, Aster program
> > scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This unique global
> > set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of
> > disciplines that need elevation and terrain information." 
> > 
> > According to Mike Abrams, Aster science team leader at NASA's Jet
> > Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the new topographic
> > information will be of value throughout the Earth sciences and has
> > many practical applications. "Aster's accurate topographic data will
> > be used for engineering, energy exploration, conserving natural
> > resources, environmental management, public works design,
> > firefighting, recreation, geology and city planning, to name just a
> > few areas," Abrams said.
> > 
> > Previously, the most complete topographic set of data publicly
> > available was from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. That
> > mission mapped 80 percent of Earth's landmass, between 60 degrees
> > north latitude and 57 degrees south. The new Aster data expand
> > coverage to 99 percent, from 83 degrees north latitude and 83
> > degrees south. Each elevation measurement point in the new data is
> > 30 meters (98 feet) apart.
> > 
> > "The Aster data fill in many of the voids in the shuttle mission's
> > data, such as in very steep terrains and in some deserts," said
> > Michael Kobrick, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission project scientist
> > at JPL. "NASA is working to combine the Aster data with that of the
> > Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and other sources to produce an
> > even better global topographic map."
> > 
> > NASA and METI are jointly contributing the Aster topographic data to
> > the Group on Earth Observations, an international partnership
> > headquartered at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva,
> > Switzerland, for use in its Global Earth Observation System of
> > Systems. This "system of systems" is a collaborative, international
> > effort to share and integrate Earth observation data from many
> > different instruments and systems to help monitor and forecast
> > global environmental changes. 
> > 
> > NASA, METI and the U.S. Geological Survey validated the data, with
> > support from the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and
> > other collaborators. The data will be distributed by NASA's Land
> > Processes Distributed Active Archive Center at the U.S. Geological
> > Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science Data Center in
> > Sioux Falls, S.D., and by METI's Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis
> > Center in Tokyo.
> > 
> > Aster is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched on Terra
> > in December 1999. Aster acquires images from the visible to the
> > thermal infrared wavelength region, with spatial resolutions ranging
> > from about 15 to 90 meters (50 to 300 feet). A joint science team
> > from the U.S. and Japan validates and calibrates the instrument and
> > data products. The U.S. science team is located at JPL.
> > 
> > For visualizations of the new Aster topographic data, visit:
> > http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/20090629.html .
> > 
> > Data users can download the Aster global digital elevation model at:
> > https://wist.echo.nasa.gov/~wist/api/imswelcome and
> > http://www.gdem.aster.ersdac.or.jp .
> > 
> > For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .
> > 
> > JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in
> > Pasadena.
-- 
Paolo Cavallini: http://www.faunalia.it/pc


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