Our Earth is a vast and complex place. The diameter of the planet is around 7,917 miles, with oceans covering 70 per cent of its surface. Read more: Climate change has pushed Earth into 'uncharted territory'
From the Arctic to the Amazon Rainforest to the Sahara, the climatological variety of our blue dot is staggering. But we aren't protecting it as we should. Now, Nasa's #AdoptThePlanet scheme is hoping to encourage people to learn more about our home and play a part in its protection.
The space agency has sectioned off 64,000 individual pieces of Earth to be "adopted" by supporters. While this process carries no legal rights, your adopted section will be added to a global map of the world, accompanied by a variety of scientific data. The pieces are roughly 55 miles wide and are assigned at random.
Users can interact with this map and click anywhere in the world to view a range of data, including information regarding carbon monoxide levels, enhanced vegetation index, global digital elevation, sea ice and surface temperature. This data is compiled from a variety of sources, including Nasa's fleet of 18 Earth science missions, satellites in orbit and information from other space agencies.
Naturally, when presented with the opportunity to adopt part of the planet – symbolically or otherwise – we volunteered.
Our random selection is located at 55.44° N, 85.44° E – a forested area in Russia. A picture from Google maps indicates the exact area of Nasa's assigned space. Once a space has been allocated, you receive a personalised adoption certificate for your unique numbered piece of Earth to print and share on social media. This also contains key information about your section, which you can compare to other parts of the globe.
When in Nasa's Worldview mode, you can click anywhere in the world and get a detailed record of various climatological events. The map then pulls up an animation that shows the area over the course of a few months or weeks, to show your specific data layers in action. This means you can watch the weather in action, directly from Nasa satellite records.
Nasa's data brings the environment to life in a variety of ways – all of which can be explored through the #AdoptThePlanet project. Nasa hopes to have all of the spaces adopted by Earth Day on April 22, 2017. Since we're number 45,651, you might want to act fast if you want to "own" a part of our planet.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
