Earthviews series#

The next phase of the project involves mapping the South Sound. Through crowdfunding, Footen began his Puget Sound mapping campaign by kayaking 120 miles of the east shore that runs from Seattle to Olympia. “At EarthViews, we developed a way to create these maps, but with a lot more attention to also mapping the data that is inherent to the locations.”įooten’s kayak is equipped not only with a camera that takes a 360-degree panoramic image every 10 seconds, but also a water quality meter that records water conditions every 10 seconds, and a recording device that geolocates his animal sightings.ĮarthViews maps can help scientists and even the public to locate points of interest, educate through virtual field trips, search areas for recreational activities, visualize waterway data, create a baseline of current waterway conditions, and enhance waterway emergency management and navigation. “Street View-style maps are a great way to engage people and show them places they will never get to see for themselves,” Footen told The JOLT. The startup’s partners include National Geographic, NASA, and Esri, a supplier of geographic information system software. Mapping the shore like Google Street ViewĪimed at helping conserve and restore areas like Puget Sound, EarthViews creates interactive maps that provide water-level imagery and data. Polychlorinated biphenyls, which are industrial products or chemicals, also continue to pose a threat to the Puget Sound and the fish that call it home.Īmong marine bird species, marbled murrelets are declining while rhinoceros auklets and pigeon guillemots have maintained the abundance of their population. Puget Sound Chinook salmon, a threatened species, also remain at “historic lows.” The report noted that there were only 74 whales in Puget Sound as of the latest count, which is merely three-quarters of the 2020 target of 95 whales. However, according to the 2021 State of the Sound report, which was funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Puget Sound is “not doing well” but showing signs of progress. He's been in the Olympia area this week.Īlthough there are varying definitions of Puget Sound’s boundaries, the Washington State Legislature says the estuary includes “all salt waters of the state of Washington inside the international boundary line between Washington and British Columbia, and lying east of the junction of the Pacific Ocean and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the rivers and streams draining to Puget Sound.”Ī critical estuary, Puget Sound houses a complex ecosystem that both humans and animals rely on for healthy food and clean water.

Earthviews series#

Hungry for some science, but you don’t have time for a full-course research plate? Then check out USGS Science Snippets, our snack-sized science series that focuses on the fun, weird, and fascinating stories of USGS science.A waterway mapping project led by a man aboard a kayak has made its way to the South Puget Sound nearshore as part of a bid to aid in the conservation and restoration of estuarie in this region.īrian Footen, president of Seattle-based startup EarthViews, has been cruising through Puget Sound with the aim of using several mobile mapping technologies strapped to his kayak to map all 1,200 miles of the nearshore. Department of Agriculture for formulating reports on crop production, condition, progress, and projecting yields. The Landsat imagery not only helps verify crop damage, as it did in this case, but is also valuable to agencies like the U.S.

This image shows a portion of that inundation.Īs the longest-running satellite system covering the Earth, Landsat is vital to national and international food production. Argentina’s Rosario Grains Exchange has reported that almost 4 million acres of soybeans in that country were damaged by this recent flooding. The flooding in the world’s third largest soybean-exporting country caused soybean and soymeal prices to hit six-month highs in mid-January on the Chicago Board of Trade, commodity analysts said. Credit: USGS/NASA Landsat Program.(Public domain.)

In this Landsat 8 image, taken on January 2, 2015, Argentina’s soybean farmlands can be seen with thin blue bands streaking through where rivers are.