On Education and Applied Sciences

Welcome to the first Full Moon of 2013. You may have noticed that this newsletter is labeled as Volume 5, Issue 1. That's five years of full moons and Earthzine! We have two people to introduce today: an Associate Editor for Education and a Guest Editor for our second theme of 2013. 

Barbara Hofer, our new Associate Editor for Education, is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Salzburg, Austria, where she teaches courses in applied geoinformatics to graduate and undergraduate students. We're happy to have her on board, and look forward to the continued expansion of our education coverage and related outreach.

On that note, education is one facet of a new Call for Papers on Applied Sciences. This quarterly theme is headed by Guest Editor Molly E. Brown, a research scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. 

This theme will focus on ways to prepare applications programs, decision-support systems and Earth science models to use measurements from upcoming missions such as NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP).

You'll find other recent articles below and to the right. Thanks for your support of Earthzine. Please pass on this newsletter to a friend. 

Jeff Kart
Managing Editor

Call for Papers --- Applied Sciences

Earthzine.org is soliciting articles of 800-3,000 words for its second 2013 quarterly theme on Applied Sciences.

We seek contributions from all regions of the globe, addressing programs and research related to integrating satellite remote-sensing data and model output into applications and decision-support systems that support global change issues and policy.

Barbara Hofer, Associate Editor for Education

Barbara holds a degree in Geoinformation from the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (2004) and a doctorate in the same field from the Vienna University of Technology (2010).

Her thesis focused on finding a generic language to describe geographic physical processes for their inclusion in Geographic Information Systems.

Monitoring urbanization in the 21st century

Urbanization will be one of the big global challenges in the 21st century. However, to date there are no tools to monitor this growth at a global level in a sustainable way. This article proposes a new concept to map and monitor the global human settlements based on high resolution satellite imagery.

Mapping the very shallow geothermal potential in Europe and selected case study areas

Though the world is moving toward alternative and renewable energy sources, little is known about the potential of very shallow geothermal energy sources.

The ThermoMap project aims to provide usable data on local geothermal conditions across Europe.

Fostering Environmental Awareness from a Young Age: A Case Study from the IGES Art Contest

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies’ annual art contest serves as a prime example of integrating art and science in the classroom.

Students benefit from the practice of visually sharing what they know. Instructors are able to tailor their lessons based on the artistic renderings of students.

NASA CERES S’COOL Project: Understanding clouds and how they affect our weather and climate

Student Cloud Observations On-Line (S’COOL) was formed as the Education and Public Outreach arm of the NASA’s Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy Systems (CERES) project. S’COOL asks students around the world that same question: “What is the effect of clouds on the Earth’s climate?”