NCEI's Environmental Data: History in the Archive
Abstract
Since 1807 when Thomas Jefferson first mandated a survey of U.S. coastal areas, collections of environmental data have expanded exponentially. Our vast knowledge of Earth, the ocean, and the sun far exceeds the first coastline surveys of a new nation. NOAA, the oldest U.S. scientific organization, stewards an ever-increasing archive of weather, climate, ocean, coastal, and geophysical information within the National Centers of Environmental Information (NCEI). NCEI's collection of environmental data is unequaled in breadth and extent.
As our knowledge of the environment has expanded and progressed, so have the ways data are collected. Our archive includes handwritten journals by amateur weather watchers to sophisticated sensor readings from satellites. We delve into the history of environmental data observations and highlight examples of how, as technology has changed, so has our ability to understand our world and space. We'll highlight several histories of data collection: - From buckets to Argo floats to study ocean temperatures - From marigrams to DART buoys to understand the nature of tsunamis - From lead lines to digital bathymetry to map the ocean - From journal entries by skywatchers to high-resolution satellite images to document the sun's activity - From punchcards to digital databases to track weather and climate trends- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.H21B..08H
- Keywords:
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- 1899 General or miscellaneous;
- HYDROLOGY