I recently had the pleasure to take part in a site visit to NOAA's David Skaggs Research center in Boulder, Colorado. This tour was part of the GIS in the Rockies off site visits planned by the conference organizers. This facility is home to many of the country's top scientists.

 Some of the research conducted here includes:
- thunderstorm and tornado warning
- winter storm forecasting
- extreme weather prediction and phenomena
- gathering data on tsunamis and other geophysical sciences
 
The crux of our site visit to NOAA was a look at the Science On A Sphere technology. This application uses computers, projectors, and advanced imaging methods to create the illusion of a planet (Earth, Sun, Moon, Mars) or any other celestial body rotating in space. Weather and other geophysical datasets can be projected and displayed on the rotating surface, providing a fantastic look at patterns that may otherwise not be so visible. Some of the data that are displayed on the sphere include:
 
- infrared data from some 5 geostationary satellites
- 20 years of sea surface temperature
- topography and bathymetry
 
As we walked around the conference room with the sphere hanging in the center we saw dramatic displays of interesting datasets. Some of the products we saw displayed include:
- movement of Earth's plates showing patterns of continental drift
- Earth at night revealing the cities lights and making it very evident where population growth has taken place
- hurricane patterns and movements
- plane paths
- sea surface temperatures over time as El Nino and La Nina come and go over time
- tsunami development after an earthquake in South East Asia
- the surface of the Moon, Mars and Venus
 
Below is a video I captured using a Nokia N95. The video shows an animation of a model of the wave motion after a major earthquake in South-east Asia. Notice the wave trajectory after the shock and then the resulting tsunami.

 
More videos of Earth on a Sphere can be seen over at the GISuser YouTube
 
A reminder, if your interested in using NOAA geophysical data products within your GIS applications consult the national geophysical data center http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov
 
For more about the Science on a Sphere See http://www.sos.noaa.gov