Power of Data Visualization

Above image looks like a giant potato, but it is actually our Earth. After just two years in orbit, European Space Agency's GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite has gathered enough data to map Earth's gravity with unrivalled precision. Scientists now have access to the most accurate model of the 'geoid' ever produced to further our understanding of how Earth works.

A precise model of Earth's geoid is crucial for deriving accurate measurements of ocean circulation, sea-level change and terrestrial ice dynamics. The geoid is also used as a reference surface from which to map the topographical features on the planet. In addition, a better understanding of variations in the gravity field will lead to a deeper understanding of Earth's interior, such as the physics and dynamics associated with volcanic activity and earthquakes.

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Andreas Rocha conceptual artists from Lisbon / Portugal created this beautiful Green World. If you like this art, also check out his gallery (some of my favourite here here here )

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There will soon be seven billion people on the planet. By 2045 global population is projected to reach nine billion. Nigel Holmes is a British graphic designer and theorist, imagines how much space we would need to host a world party for 7 billion people in 2011.

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A representation of the pressure local populations put on their ecosystem, this map shows how much plant matter people need for food and other products compared to the amount of plant material produced in each region (but not per capita use). For example, in the United States, each person uses 5.94 metric tons of carbon (vegetation) per year, while in South-central Asia, people use 1.23 metric tons per year. However, the United States produces more than it requires, so the ratio between usage and vegetation is low. South-central Asia, on the other hand, uses less per person, but it has a high population that collectively require more carbon than the land produces, and so must import products from other regions.

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It's crawling with life down there. A remote expedition to the deepest layer of the Earth's oceanic crust has revealed a new ecosystem living over a kilometre beneath our feet. It is the first time that life has been found in the crust's deepest layer, and an analysis of the new biosphere suggests life could exist lower still.

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How does our diet affect the planet? And how do some of the different diets around the world compare?

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In 1960 a bathyscaphe took two men to the deepest point on Earth. In 2010 that manned descent to the Mariana Trench—still unmatched—won co-pilot Don Walsh the Hubbard Medal, National Geographic’s top honor for research and discovery. Yet it remains just a single, vital drop in an age of ocean exploration.

The secrets of the deep have emerged from research done far below the waves—and from far above them. Oceanographer Walter Munk deems the satellite TOPEX/Poseidon’s 13-year mapping of the sea surface, showing how currents affect climate, “the most successful ocean experiment of all times.”

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The distance between the Earth’s highest and lowest points is almost 20 kilometers.

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Near Earth Objects (NEOs) is an infographic project made by Zachary Vabolis Graphics designer / illustrator from Mechanicsville, MD. The data is actual data gathered from NASA's public records. Displayed are known near earth objects greater than 1000 meters in diameter and the dates that they will come closest to earth.

NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth's neighborhood. Composed mostly of water ice with embedded dust particles, comets originally formed in the cold outer planetary system while most of the rocky asteroids formed in the warmer inner solar system between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

by Zachary Vabolis

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