Japan Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami - Measurements with Ny-Ålesund Super Conducting Gravimeter

Japan Tsunami Knock-out of Polar Instruments



Credit NOAA

Above you see the ocean wide tsunami wave propagation. It was not that kind of wave that knocked out the geodetic instrument situated close to the North Pole though. It was the gravitational consequences of all that mass movement, both the continental plates and the immense water body.

See the graphs from Ny-Ålesund here.

The Rhino Posisiton

The Rhino Position



Is given by GPS, not any particular rhinos personal view....:-)

GPS Makes Mountain Higher

GPS Makes Mountain Higher



That headline of mine is bullshit of course. :-) GPS measurements are more precise than photogrammetry though, and new measurement of this Welsh mountain manages to 'move' it over the 1000 meter threshold. I would not call it a super mountain though...:-)

Mass Movements

Mass Movements



No, it is not activism or political mass movements we talk about, but the mass that is displaced continuously here on planet Earth. We track it down by using satellites.

Flat Earth

Variations over flat



It looks flat but it might be bumpy. When you are speeding the bumps in the road becomes more 'significant'. Personally, I am known to ignore those highly irritating fake road bumps that are made so to replace regular well functioning brakes. I am totally against bumps.

I take great pleasure in reading about those who make sure that flat is really flat - and do not include any kind of bumps. Variation over vast distances of only 61 mm is acceptable also by me! Go Bloodhound! :-)

Cashing Water With Satellites

Chasing Water






With the help of a suite of satellites we are getting better and better at chasing water. I interviewed two of the seniors and pioneers in the field. Meet the satellite altimetry wizards Ole and Philippa (in the video)! :-)

Improved GPS

Relativistic GPS



Since everything is moving relative to each other (The Earth rotates around it's only varying axis, around the Sun and in the galaxy etc) it is hard to define a pure inertial system - or coordinate system for positioning if you like. Hence we call upon Einstein! :-)

Surface Water and Ocean Topography

Surface Water and Ocean Topography



Southern Ocean near-surface current speed from ECCO2


Satellites can do amazing things there days. I bet you haven't seen an image of ocean currents around Antarctica like the one above before. Simply über cool. The SWOT mission will give us information about water tables on land AND sea surface height - in one go. :-)

Why do we care? Because we want to know where the water is, preferably all the time, so that we know when to water our fields, know if there will be shortage of fresh water and if sea level will rise.

St. Patrick's Day = Space Geodesy Day

St. Patrick's Day = Space Geodesy Day



My first episode on A Green Space - A Green Day was about space geodesy and the launching of GOCE satellite that will measure the Earth gravity field. All over the place. :-)

17th March is historic in space geodesy as it all started basically on this date. Thank you St. Patrick is appropriate I should think. :-)

PS. St. Patrick enters the stage at 1:13...

Tracking You Down - Indoors!

Galileo (GPS) Tracks You Down Indoors




No more escapes!

Geodesists in Haiti

Geodesists in Haiti



The earthquake, and particularly the aftermath of the earthquake, in Haiti is a terrible disaster. From a scientific point of view (leave out the human in the scientists) the Haitian earthquake is an excellent and unique opportunity to study our planet up close. Geodesists are now on their way to Port-au-Prince with their GPS equipment. Measuring the change in the shape of the Earth, or rather how much did the two tectonic plates (the Caribbean and North American one that is) move since the main shock, and aftershocks.

I will tell you later why I am DEAD INTERESTED IN THIS PARTICULAR JOURNEY. Help me cross your fingers for getting the geodesist from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince, will ya! :-)

Oh! This is geodesy.

Orbits

Orbits!



Learn a thing or two about orbits! (click on image)

Goodness GRACEious

Goodness GRACEious



From the Moon to Ocean Bottom with Geodesy! :-)

The geodetic satellite Grace will allow us to measure changes in ocean bottom pressure globally for long periods of time. Through transferring data analysis methodology used on the Moon to Earth we will keep a better and sharper eye on the ocean bottom - from space!

GPS Getting Better

Improving GPS



US Air Force is on the job!

Ground Water with GRACE

Ground Water



Geodetic satellites are gathering an unprecedented amount of information about the water cycle, also the big unknown factors such as ground water. Totally awesome! :-)

Animation of water fluctuations in northern India It is pretty, too. :-)

InSAR in Wenchuan - China

Funky 'Seismic' Pattern



Credits: Jianbao Sun, IGCEA, Seismology and Geology, No.3, 2008

Wenschuan, China, May 2008




InSAR is the hottest tool to use from space - look how totally hippie the Wenchuan earthquake looks like using interferometry.

Using InSAR and GPS data, scientists are able to measure and monitor where and how stress changes in the crust as well as how any associated deformation is distributed.

We are definitely going to see more of these kind of maps! :-)

And oh, yeah. I dedicated an episode of A Green Space - A Green Earth to natural hazards. There you can see equivalent maps of L'Aquila after the earthquake this April. It has absolutely nothing to do with G8 in case you wonder...:-)

Mapping Icy Topography

Icy Topography



Using Synthetic Aperture Radar to map the icy topography in the Arctic.

A good radar is worth it's weight in gold. I don't know, but it sure is very useful - and way cool to fly over those vast areas of Greenland and Iceland with nothing but ice. I know there are not much of a toilet onboard those planes so I hope they are careful with the eating and drinking....:-)

Earth's Boundaries

On The Edge



Credit: iStockphoto/Andrey Prokhorov


Defining Earth's Boundaries.

Crustal Movement and Religion

Crustal Movements Shake Up Mecca



Credit: NASA/JPL

GPS data represented by arrows showing present crustal movement directions and relative magnitudes.



The moral of this story must be: know your geodesy before you build a Mosque!

The crust of the Earth is exposed to all sorts of movements displacing points relative to each other. Tectonic plates move round and about, as we all know, right?, and therefore what used to be aligned may in the course of some years no longer be that.

If I was a muslim about to build a mosque, I would certainly study the crustal movements of my potential mosque spot relative to that of Mecca, before building. And then I would keep a continuous GPS eye on both my mosque - and Mecca!

You wouldn't want to disturb the prayers of millions of people just because the Earth moved now, would you?

Mt. Edna

Mt. Edna Moves!



Credit: ESA


It is nothing special about a volcano or any part of the planet's crust moving. What is special is the long time series and gorgeous maps they've made. This is looking good science! :-)




Credit: Neri, M., F. Casu, V. Acocella, G. Solaro, S. Pepe, P. Berardino, E. Sansosti, T. Caltabiano, P. Lundgren, and R. Lanari (2009), Deformation and eruptions at Mt. Etna (Italy): A lesson from 15 years of observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L02309, doi:10.1029/2008GL036151, Published: 28 January 2009.