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capturing an array of pre-identified

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spots for earth

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scientific observation is one example of

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this science the station crew does these

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crew earth observations allow the crew

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to observe and photograph natural and

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human-made changes on earth they provide

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researchers with key data to better

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understand the planet on which we live

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one of these images taken from the crew

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the

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sun's reflection point in this panorama

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taken from the international space

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station using the sun gland technique

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astronauts can image fine detail of

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water bodies here the bright line of the

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okabanga river shows the annual summer

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flood advancing from the well-watered

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angolan highlands to the delta

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most of the water of this river is used

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up

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by the forest or evaporates in the dry

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air

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part of one of the

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space station solar arrays is visible at

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the image upper right

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many of those images of earth are

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gathered as part of an experiment

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on the station known as crew earth

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observations which has been in

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operations since expedition one today

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we're going to learn more about it from

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dr justin

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wilkinson the principal

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geoscientist right correct and from

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jacobs engineering thank you so much for

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joining us today so we can talk about

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these beautiful photos that we always

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you and all about but there is some real

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science behind

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absolutely photographs lots of science

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so let's first talk about why why is

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earth observation mission or what is the

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earth observation mission for the space

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station

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well our little group is there to help

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astronauts take photographs and then to

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make them available to uh two big groups

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of users the first group is that 25

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15 to 25 million people who use the

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who make hits on our site every month

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then also to a bunch of scientists we've

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got scientific connections all over the

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world so those two major groups but then

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we also help the astronauts take these

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photographs because it's good for them

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to take the photographs we know that

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there's a psychological benefit to doing

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that yeah they do seem to enjoy taking

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those photographs and we

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probably just as equally enjoy you know

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looking at them so can you explain to me

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why it's important

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for us to be able to view earth from the

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perspective of the space station

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well the very large view that that all

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satellites but especially the space

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station are

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giving scientists

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it gives us a sense of the size of some

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of the natural systems so we we

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understand winds better we understand

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ocean dynamics better we understand even

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tectonics better by looking at the big

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view the the eye is a very small lens

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which means you see a huge view when you

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look out of a window and it's those

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perspectives which we are uh

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changing our knowledge of the earth with

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yeah and and i know

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some of these photos are the the we were

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talking about just the changing of the

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earth it's kind of interesting so are we

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comparing data that we received back

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from expedition 1 to like current data

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now of the same locations

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that may be the biggest single thing

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that we are doing

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so many satellites up there now looking

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at parts of the earth but even within

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our own database which is now quite big

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about a million images

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we

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have the best time looking at the

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earlier images in comparing with

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comparing with what we see today we see

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all kinds of changes so i know some of

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these spots are pre-identified by you

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guys can you explain to me what are the

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factors what how do you go about

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determining which locations on earth

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that they're going to be taking for the

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day

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sure we have a series of scientific

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collaborators around the world and they

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send in a few sites that they would like

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to have imaged with the particular

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cameras that we have and so that makes

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the main set of sites that we have in

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our in our database that we ask for

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every day or some of which we ask for

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every day depending on where exactly uh

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the spacecraft is and when they're awake

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and all that stuff

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but the other group is uh personal

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requests from from crew members and they

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usually just send us a big long list of

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places they want to get so we put that

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in our database and we ask for those two

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again depending on whether and when

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they're awake

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wow

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so

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um

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so some of these these uh photos that we

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see we're seeing them on social media

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and the crew members aboard the space

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station are are really um really

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engaging with a lot of folks out there

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and they seem to be some of the most

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popular things that we're seeing out

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there um how do you explain do you feel

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that that how does that benefit the

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mission of the crews

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sharing these kinds of photos with the

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public

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well

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before there was twitter we were getting

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something like 20 million hits a month

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on our website looking at the

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photographs the stills

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this

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huge new thing of the social media is

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only boosting the number of people that

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see the images and starting to

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understand the world and see what the

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world actually looks like instead of

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from a map from an actual view such as

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the views we've got there that's there's

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a twitter shot of the andes mountains

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for example i mean that's just exciting

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it's why i do what i do

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it's very good it is exciting i think a

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lot of people really really do um

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somehow we connect with that it's it's

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our world it's our earth and you see

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you know how

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we have all these boundaries but yet up

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from up there it just doesn't seem that

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way and um very very interesting and

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some beautiful photos some of them are

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almost very artistic

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um looking but

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i think that the science part is is

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really intriguing for a lot of people as

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well um

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so if you have anything else you want to

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share about the science of studying

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earth observations or maybe even

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explaining how you got into that

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well maybe the first thing to say is

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that

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the artistic side is what galvanizes

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very many of the astronauts and some

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particularly good at taking artistic

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shots

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in fact a book recently came out with

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the most artistic shots that one of the

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astronauts had taken

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but for me i'm i'm a desert geologist

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which means that i have the best time of

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all because there's few clouds over the

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over the deserts of the world so i get

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to see what i want to see all the time

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okay and i've been working on that now

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for about 20 years right here okay so 20

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years so you've been working on this

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since the expedition one um of the

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photos that were being taken down the

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cooperation

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will before that so

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then you've gone through a lot of photos

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in your time here with us so i would

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like to know what is your favorite crew

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of observation and tell me why well that

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the first picture that you put up there

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the okavango swap set is actually one of

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my research areas there you go

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and uh what's neat about it is it shows

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that the the annual flood has come all

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the way to that bottom line that sharp

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bottom line just below the middle of the

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picture um

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and we find that there's not just one of

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these big swamps there but we've got

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something like 10 of them most of them

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not active now but that was a huge new

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discovery for us right next door to that

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one

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very well it's beautiful

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so that's that's one of my favorite

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shots my other favorite shot has just

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come up and this is the river plate in

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central argentina

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and just to give you a sense of scale

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there in the lower left

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you see the city of buenos aires which

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has got about 13 million people is it's

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it's 60 miles across it's a huge place

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and you can see that the the estuary

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itself which is all brown with filled

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with brown sediment water

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um is a very large area

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and all of that brown sediment has come

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down the big river the parana river the

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second river of south america

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and it's been deposited into the sea

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making that huge brown mess and

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basically what it is is the andes

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mountains which are being thrust upwards

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by tectonic forces being eroded down and

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that's the mud that's come off those

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from the erosion of those big mountains

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huge quantities of sediment coming into

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the sea yeah that is incredibly

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fascinating and actually that photo is

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is a piece of art i would think i would

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i would actually enjoy i could see that

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on the wall somewhere i think that's why

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i chose it i was asked for another

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favorite and that's one of my favorites

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for the exactly it's a nice photo i i it

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would be hard to pick one out of all the

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the photos that you've seen come across

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your desk but i i think your um your

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work is very um important and uh

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interesting for us and and again the

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public enjoys that and i think the crew

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member crew members aboard the space

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station enjoy taking those photos as

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well thanks so much for uh coming out

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and talking with us today you're very