Too bad the post office isn't as efficient as the weather service
December 15, 2013 2:53 PM   Subscribe

EARTH is an amazing visualization of global weather conditions which uses data from the NOAA and the public domain natural earth dataset, to show the wind patterns across the entire globe in real time. previously
posted by Just this guy, y'know (31 comments total) 52 users marked this as a favorite
 
1.) This is gorgeous and awesome.
2.) What the hell is happening up around Maine? Is it always like that?
posted by Navelgazer at 2:56 PM on December 15, 2013 [5 favorites]


I could state at this hours.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:58 PM on December 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oh, also, be sure to click on the "earth" button to play with different altitudes and projections.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:58 PM on December 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is amazing and will come in handy as I plot my circumnavigation.
posted by stargell at 2:58 PM on December 15, 2013


ooooooo....fancy!
posted by Confess, Fletch at 3:03 PM on December 15, 2013


2.) What the hell is happening up around Maine? Is it always like that?

I remain committed.
posted by Going To Maine at 3:07 PM on December 15, 2013 [8 favorites]


This is lovely. The About page is very helpful, and definitely be sure to click the word "Earth" to fiddle with the controls. The height one is fun; as you go the right (lower pressure) you move higher up. The projections are fun too, and come courtesy of D3.js geo projections.

Does anyone know where all NOAA gets their data about wind speeds and directions? Last I looked into it the only source of primary data were weather balloons. It seems so improbable; they just sort of let a bunch of lighter than air balloons go twice a day all over the world and see where they drift, then hope they can find them again and recover the electronics.
posted by Nelson at 3:12 PM on December 15, 2013


Nelson, as I understand it, data is actually returned from the balloon by radio. I'm not sure if they bother to recover the litter or not.
posted by wierdo at 3:24 PM on December 15, 2013


Winds are obtained from data-collecting buoys, and satellites.

Check the National Buoy Data Center, and QuikScat.
posted by the Real Dan at 3:27 PM on December 15, 2013


Two tropical cyclones in the Indian ocean. Nasty.
posted by adamvasco at 3:36 PM on December 15, 2013


what's your beef with the postal service?
posted by wilful at 4:00 PM on December 15, 2013 [6 favorites]


Maine would be, I think, what's left of the storm this weekend
posted by thelonius at 4:00 PM on December 15, 2013


What the hell is happening up around Maine? Is it always like that?

Thankfully, no, it isn't. Runcible Spoon (a few miles down the road) emailed me this earlier this morning, and I couldn't help noticing that we have been right in the teeth of what looks to be the strongest winds in the U.S. ever since. (I probably also could have gotten the idea by pulling aside the insulated curtains and daring to look out the window.)
posted by LeLiLo at 4:03 PM on December 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


So Neal Stephenson is basically a prophet? From Snow Crash (1992):
A globe about the size of a grapefruit, a perfectly detailed rendition of Planet Earth, hanging in space at arm's length in front of his eyes. Hiro has heard about this but never seen it. It is a piece of CIC software called, simply, Earth. It is the user interface that CIC uses to keep track of every bit of spatial information that it owns — all the maps, weather data, architectural plans, and satellite surveillance stuff.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:39 PM on December 15, 2013 [4 favorites]


Also, this is way cool.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:41 PM on December 15, 2013


Wait. That's the part of Snow Crash that you think is prophetic?
posted by schmod at 5:05 PM on December 15, 2013 [4 favorites]


the Real Dan: I think both the buoys and satellites only collect surface winds, right? I guess I should be more specific in that I'm curious about winds aloft.
posted by Nelson at 5:13 PM on December 15, 2013


This is great. I also had fun picking other projections and "panning" the "globe".
posted by notsnot at 5:19 PM on December 15, 2013


This is amazing. Absolutely terrifying thinking about the power circulating in the cyclonic air masses.

Can't wait to see what happens when we have another good storm here.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:40 PM on December 15, 2013


This is so freaking cool. Thanks so much.

'Though the detail-obsessed part of my brain wants to find out exactly how up-to-date the data is, and how it makes it to the map. Oh, look, github!

(I sort of expected that in the future there would be all kinds of information easily available. I didn't anticipate how often the source code would be easily available too.)
posted by benito.strauss at 6:18 PM on December 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yeah, this is cool but I'm here to take offense at the swipe against the Post Office, intended or not.
posted by newdaddy at 6:27 PM on December 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


Wait. That's the part of Snow Crash that you think is prophetic?

Well I can already surf the web riding in someone's car, what else was there?
posted by A dead Quaker at 6:46 PM on December 15, 2013


The pacific, at the equator, that's fascinating. Is it really that 'dead'? Is it seasonal?

Do winds really pick up that much speed once they get over the water?

My brain, it's electrifying!
posted by DigDoug at 6:53 PM on December 15, 2013


I think the post office does well, actually.
posted by captainsohler at 6:57 PM on December 15, 2013


Wait. That's the part of Snow Crash that you think is prophetic?

My nuclear-powered robo-dog death cyborg looks nothing like Stephenson's description.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:59 PM on December 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


Amazing! That was from 1992?? It's about time to read Snow Crash.
posted by cambecc at 7:29 PM on December 15, 2013


The post title is a quote from back to the future 2, where amazing future technology provides perfect weather forecasting.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 12:13 AM on December 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Interesting and soothing, what more do you want?
posted by abecedarium radiolarium at 4:30 AM on December 16, 2013


The pacific, at the equator, that's fascinating. Is it really that 'dead'? Is it seasonal?

That would be the doldrums.
posted by jessssse at 8:18 AM on December 16, 2013


Awesome Web toy/artifact/fetish.
posted by doctornemo at 10:16 AM on December 16, 2013


Yep, hours.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:33 PM on December 16, 2013


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