Stay Home and Explore!

There are many exciting explorations to enjoy from your computer or smartphone as we spend the next few weeks “sheltering indoors.” Dr Anjani Ganase shares some of what’s available on the innovative, constantly evolving Google Earth site. Click on the collection title to begin your online exploration in Google Chrome!

With the advent of satellite and global positioning technology, tech companies, such as Google created online map platforms that allowed user-friendly, bird’s-eye views of our planet along with GPS to show us how to get around. Today, nearly everyone with a smart phone uses GPS to track their location, navigate our cities and roads to avoid traffic or to locate each other in real time. While this is the most recognized purpose of Google Maps, with Google Earth there is hardly a place on earth that cannot easily be viewed from a computer. The primary purpose of Google Earth is to explore. Over the years, as satellite image resolutions improved so too have the capabilities of Google Earth. Everyone can find their house on this platform. However, the uses of Google Earth go much further than that.

For scientists, having regularly updated high resolution images of the surface of the earth can tell us a lot of about the state our ecosystems. For example, the rate at which the Amazon rain forest is being logged can be tracked in near real time via satellite imagery; there’s an automated visual recognition programme that can detect tree loss in images and their locations. The facility aids authorities as they patrol protected lands, to locate and stop illegal logging.  This was one of the many practical outputs of Google Earth’s Outreach programme.

Now Google is taking us a step further into the middle of a location through the Google Street View features. Street View provides a visual approach on Google maps to make sure you’ve reached the right address by showing you what the building looks like. It can also allow you to visualize the view from the top of Macchu Picchu or the edge of the Grand Canyon. Street View also allows users to contribute to Street View by taking 360-degree images from their phones and uploading to Google Maps. The Google Earth Voyager is a collection of these images that take us on a virtual journey off the roads and into our natural spaces. You can explore almost anywhere on earth, from the edge of the volcano or diving an underwater canyon, from the safety of a mobile phones or desktop.

While we wait out the next two weeks from home., take comfort in the fact that we are more connected to each other and to the planet than ever before. We can still see the world and continue to learn and explore. The internet and platforms for education from Google Earth are great tools. Parents can explore with their children and there are many things we can still learn about our planet. Google Earth Voyager has a series of collections of 360-degree images that highlight iconic locations – natural wonders, endangered species as well as inspiring journeys of humans and animals around the world.  Simply search Google Earth Voyager from your Chrome Browser and begin your journey.  Here are some highlights from the Voyager Collection.

The World’s Oceans

This collection highlights the watery 70 % of our planet that few of us have ever seen. Virtually dive coral reefs around the world which includes the Great Barrier Reef – the largest reef system in the world.  Be sure to stop off in the Caribbean. Venture  off northeast Tobago, where our reefs are featured on this platform through the Maritime Ocean Collection Project. Anyone can go diving in Tobago without getting on a plane or even getting wet! Compare our reefs to those in Mexico, Australia and even Japan. Try to see the differences among these reefs.

Some coral reefs of Tobago can be explored on Google Earth Voyager. Photo Credit: The Maritime Ocean Collection and Underwater Earth

Natural Wonders

Quiz yourself on the Natural Wonders of the world, but I warn you these are not the typical sites you’re used to seeing. On this virtual tour, you’ll hover directly over the famous Geyser - Morning Glory Pool at the Yellowstone National Park - and see the amazing blues and yellows of the hot spring created from the bacteria that live in the pool.  Let’s explore the ice caves of Glaciers in Alaska without a jacket, or take a trip to hottest place on earth in Dallol, Ethiopia without sunscreen. Finally, meander through the rock pillars formed from ancient caves in China.

Hydrothermal chimneys, salt pillars and terraces of Dallol, Ethiopia. Photo Credit: Electra Kotopoulou  CC BY-SA 4.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

Searching for Sharks in Street View

When we think about sharks, we mostly think about jaws, teeth and fear. But we can learn respect for this super predator species: these include the bull shark, great white shark and the tiger sharks. However, there are over 500 species of sharks that live in the oceans around the world. Shark species range in size from as small as a foot long such as the epaulettes or walking sharks on the Great Barrier Reef, to the massive whale sharks that roam the oceans feeding on krill. Sharks are important keystone species, which means their presence is important for many other marine animals, keeping populations in check.

Swim with whale sharks and manta rays off the coast of Mexico. Photo Credit: The Ocean Agency.

 

The International Space Station

If exploring Earth gets boring, how about exploring the International Space Station where astronauts from all over the world - USA, Russia, Europe and Japan - live in space to conduct experiments on the impact of space or zero gravity. Get transported to space to check out the different labs on the space station run by the different countries. These labs are very distinct from the labs on earth; you’ll notice how they are arranged where there is no up or down, and no gravity to contend with. You may notice that there no chairs or tables, and everything is strapped in! Finally crawl into the observation module which permits a view of approaching vehicles and monitors external work done on the ISS. It is also the place to observe impressive views of the earth’s surface, as well as the stars.

View of the earth from Cupola Observation Module, on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: Scott Kelly, NASA Astronaut