NASA and Cisco Collaborating on Climate Change Platform
NASA and Cisco, Inc. have joined together to implement and manage an online global environmental monitoring platform, which is named Planetary Skin.
The platform will be used for data collection and analysis utilizing sensors in space, the air, the oceans, and on land.
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John Chambers, the CEO of Cisco said this of the joint project: “This unique partnership taps the power and innovation of the market and harnesses it for the public good. Cisco is proud to work with NASA on this initiative and hopes others from the public and private sectors will join us in this exciting endeavor.”
The first part of the project is the Rural Skin which will focus on tropical rainforests. The current rate of forest destruction will be examined closely in the context of global climate change. Carbon emissions reduction through forest preservation and reforestation have been identified as very cost effective measures. According to the Planetary Skin website, also the potential economic benefits are enormous: “It‘s estimated that the economic value of eliminating deforestation is in excess of US 400 billion per annum”. The rural or rainforest skin will measure carbon stocks and flow using an eclectic array of sensors.
Two other major skins will come online also. A Rural to Urban skin will examine the relationships between resources in rural areas such as water, and their utilization by nearby urban areas. This network will also be used to understand the public health scenarios involved: “Poor water quality and sanitation contribute to ~ 4 billion cases of diarrhea and 2 million deaths annually.”
An Urban Skin will focus on energy efficiency, smart water systems, recycling, intelligent transportation, and citizen collaboration in urban centers. Cities are major consumers of resources, so the opportunity for improvement is robust: “The world’s 20 megacities alone, each with a population exceeding 10 million, are responsible for 75 percent of the planet’s energy use.”
Just 10 days ago, a NASA global warming satellite crashed before it could be placed in space for remote sensing. Japan recently succesfully launched the Ibuki satellite for the same purposes. There is no word of collaboration between the Planetary Skin platform and Japanese researchers.
Image Credit: NASA, Public Domain
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[...] on March 16 - NASA and Cisco, Inc., a leading supplier of networking equipment, are trumpeting an online global environmental monitoring platform, called Planetary Skin, which will collect and analyze data from all over the planet to measure the [...]