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Welcome to the Giovanni-NEO Instructional Cookbook!
The Purpose of the Giovanni-NEO Instructional Cookbook
Giovanni is the Goddard Earth Sciences DISC (Data and Information Services Center) Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure. NEO is NASA Earth Observations, a system created by the Earth Sciences Outreach Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Each of these innovative systems provides a simple way to examine, explore, and analyze actual NASA remote sensing data of the Earth. Together they allow an introduction to the scientific process of observing and understanding the Earth with satellite observations.
This cookbook is being developed with a central guiding principle: show how to use Giovanni and NEO to look at Earth's various regions and the atmospheric, oceanic, and land surface processes which affect them. The "recipes" in the cookbook provide step-by-step instructions showing how to use these systems to look at areas, processes, and phenomena. Educators can use these recipes with students to allow the students to investigate specific topics relevant to a course of study. Members of the general public with an interest in NASA's earth science programs can also use the recipes to examine and understand the data provided by NASA satellites and instruments. In either case, once the basic skills of getting the data, creating images, and performing basic analyses have been acquired, Giovanni and NEO allow more advanced research and investigations.
Each recipe is therefore intended to be about a single region or process that can be visualized and analyzed with these tools. The recipes can be incorporated into classroom instruction, or used to increase knowlege about the Earth, and to relate the view from space to what can be observed in a backyard, a regional park, the sky above you, or a nearby beach.
IMPORTANT NOTE !!!
The first version of the Giovanni-NEO cookbook (which you are reading now) is a demonstration prototype, focused on oceanographic data. As the cookbook is developed and refined, it will be expanded to include many different kinds of atmospheric, meteorological, and land surface data. The next section will discuss the basic types of oceanographic remote-sensing data that are available in Giovanni and NEO, which are used in the oceanographic recipes that have been created as examples for further development.
Oceanographic Data in Giovanni and NEO
NASA missions actually provide four different kinds of basic oceanographic data: sea surface wind speeds, sea surface height, sea surface temperature (SST), and water-leaving radiances (light levels) in the visible light range. Water-leaving radiances are important because they can be transformed mathematically into the concentration of chlorophyll in phytoplankton, which indicates levels of biological activity in the oceans. Currently, Giovanni and NEO have SST data products and data products based on water-leaving radiances. Each of these is discussed below.
Water-leaving radiances and phytoplankton chlorophyll
In the visible light range, SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua measure the light that is scattered, absorbed, or reflected by substances, particles, and organisms in surface ocean waters. This data can be transformed into data products such as chlorophyll a concentration, which indicates the concentration of phytoplankton in the ocean, and other parameters which are sensitive to light reflected from inorganic (non-living) particles, or which indicate the clarity of the water. The concentration of chlorophyll is the most commonly used data product, as it shows where ocean currents, winds, sunlight, and nutrients create favorable conditions for the growth of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are the small marine organisms that use the light of the Sun to create carbon through photosynthesis, the same process as the leaves of plants on land. Phytoplankton are therefore the foundation of the entire oceanic ecosystem, which includes zooplankton, fish, whales, penguins -- literally everything that swims in the sea or eats something that does. Because phytoplankton are so important, observing the changes in chlorophyll concentration over the entire ocean is of high scientific interest.
It should be noted that although NASA scientists and their colleagues around the world have done amazing things that allow the calculation of chlorophyll concentrations, the data is influenced by many factors. Near coasts, the data is not as accurate, due to the presence of other substances and particles that affect the light levels observed by the satellite. So although the data is interesting and informative, it must be used with awareness of where it is most accurate, and where it may not be as accurate.
Sea surface temperature (SST)
SST is a fundamental property of oceanic waters, and it is somewhat easier to measure from space than light levels. The orbiting instrument is basically a thermometer, measuring the temperature of the surface of the water. SST varies with the movement of ocean currents, with the seasons, with the variability of winds blowing over the surface of the ocean, and where rivers meet the ocean in estuaries and deltas. SST therefore provides a way to visualize the movements of ocean waters, how they are affected by climate and weather, and how they influence the biological activity of the ocean.
How to Use the Giovanni-NEO Instructional Cookbook
We recommend using this demonstration version of the Giovanni-NEO Instructional Cookbook to explore and investigate oceanographic phenomena. First take a look at the the two "Functions" pages, to get an idea of how to use each system. Try to generate images and the associated analytical visualizations. Then "dive in" and follow the steps in the recipes. Once the basic steps can be followed to produce the indicated output, the systems can be used for independent or guided research.
We'd also like to find out what you think, and what you suggest can be changed and improved, as we develop this cookbook into a complete educational and instructional resource. Email us!
Instructional Recipes - Oceans
Instructional Recipes - Air Quality
The Giovanni-NEO Instructional Cookbook is now currently hosting chapters on Air Quality created as part of the development process for the expanded resource described above.
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Atmos Composition
