This is exactly what we need to help us plan for our kids future. With this portal we can get up to date scientific data and analysis on global sea level rise and how we might apply it locally to our areas. Until now all we can use to glean the effect of climate change on our most important decisions are foreboding documentaries and scientist warning of imminent dangers, though their time scale is measured in decades if not centuries. All of this is great for raising alarm and awareness but not of much use when it comes to planning where the best location would be to buy housing or land that might be of value in a changing natural world.
The Gulf Stream, Northwestern Atlantic as seen from a satellite. Image-courtesy of NASA
Enter NASA's Web Portal on Rising Seas @ sealevel.nasa.gov . Launched in early April this portal is aimed at providing information on the most current data from satellites and other oceanographic instruments on sea levels. This portal is going to be very valuable to all of us because all the data is public and can be used liberally. Here is a quote from the site on part of its mission:
-- An interactive data analysis tool, launching in mid-2016, that will allow direct access to NASA datasets on sea level. Users will be able to manipulate these datasets to automatically generate charts, graphs and maps of sea surface height, temperature and other factors. The analysis tool will also allow users to make forecasts of future conditions, as well as “hindcasts” -- retroactive calculations of past trends and conditions.
This is the reasons why I praise the US of A among my friends in Malaysia who are usually cynical of the US government. Obviously it has cost billions of dollars to the US taxpayers to put up the infrastructure to provide us with this kind of information. This is the generousness of the US that I take into consideration when I draw my conclusions on US foreign excursions. So thank you very much NASA and USA.
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