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Projects: Space InformationThe Planetary ReportVolume XXVIII, Number 4, July/August 2008
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Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, United States Geological Survey, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (city lights) |
When seen from space, Earth—with its ultramarine oceans, green and tan
land masses, and swirling white clouds—looks like no other planet in
our solar system. This spectacular image of our "blue marble" is
the most detailed true-color image of Earth to date. Using a collection of
satellite-based observations, scientists stitched together months of data on
the land, oceans, sea ice, clouds, and even city lights into a seamless true-color
mosaic of every square kilometer of our planet. This portrait of Earth's Western
Hemisphere shows North America, Central America, and the top of South America.
From The Editor
We've all done it at some time, just for fun—written our address to include our name, street, city, state, and country, then extended it to planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe. You might think such a perspective is the result of the Space Age and the realization that we could walk on other worlds, with our planet just one stopping place on the journey. The impulse goes back, however, at least to a famous 19th-century naturalist who inscribed his address in a journal as "John Muir, Earth-planet, Universe."
As Muir discovered, people can be mindless about how they use Earth and its resources, not thinking or understanding that a single species, such as Homo sapiens, can be powerful enough to alter a world. From the new perspective of space, we now watch the polar caps retreat, see spring arrive earlier each year, and record a steady warming of Earth's climate.
In this special issue, we address directly how humanity is changing this planet -- and how we must monitor these changes. Ironically, just as scientists reach a long-sought consensus on climate change, some governments have scaled back their plans to observe Earth from space. This is now an issue for The Planetary Society, with our unique way of seeing Earth as one planet among many.
In The Planetary Society, we identify with the impulse to see ourselves as inhabitants of a planet, not just of a building on a street. The protection of our home planet is the responsibility of all those who live here, and we must take the utmost care of our home world.—Charlene M. Anderson
Planet Earth Special Issue
with Guest Editor Charles F. Kennel
Features
Earth Is, After All, a Planet
by Charles F. Kennel and Louis D. Friedman
The Earth's Changing Environment as Seen From Space
by Michael D. King
Connecting Policy and Science: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
by Richard C. J. Somerville
As Riders on the Earth Together: Monitoring Our Changing Planet
by Berrien Moore III
This special issue of The Planetary Report was sponsored in part by Northrop Grumman Corporation.
Thank you, Northrop Grumman!
The Planetary Report is available only to Members of The Planetary Society. If you'd like to read these and other exciting features, JOIN THE PLANETARY SOCIETY TODAY!
MEMBERS: Download this and other back issues of The Planetary Report in PDF format from the For Members section of the website.
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