Earth Science Week 2011

An educational webcast, "Earth Science and You," featuring NASA's chief scientist Dr. Waleed Abdalati, director of communications Dr. Michelle Thaller, and DLN host Erin McKinley. This is the full webcast which touches on topics such as sea ice, hurricanes, ozone, water, and other elements of our ever-changing Earth's systems.

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Dr. William Lau, Deputy Director for Atmospheres, Earth Sciences Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center discusses findings from his recent research into teleconnections between the large fires in Russia during the Summer of 2010 and the large flooding events in Pakistan at around the same time. Dr. Lau's research illustrates the close interconnection between the various Earth systems and how changes in one system or region can lead to significant changes in other systems or regions, even when separated in space and time. Another example is the potential linkage between the current historic drought in Texas and sea surface temperature trends in the Eastern Pacific, also called 'La Niña'.

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Dr. Gavin Schmidt, Research Physical Scientist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), talks about the role of modeling at NASA. Driven by satellite data collected across the various Earth systems (air, water, land, ice), these powerful computer models allow scientists such as Gavin to study changes across our planet, to better understand the consequences of such changes on the Earth and its inhabitants, but also to look at potential changes in the future.

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