Auroras: http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/auroras
In the night sky, a faint glow appears on the horizon. Green and red flames of light stretch across the sky. A glowing curtain of light forms, waving and swirling above you. As the lights fade away the dark night closes over you once again. You have just seen an Aurora ! Auroras occur around Earth's north and south geomagnetic poles. They are due to the interaction between Earth's magnetic field and charged particles blown away from the sun. These pages set up by the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco are a good starting point to understand Auroras.
Aurora's Northern Nights: http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/Curtis/curtis.html
This is another site on Auroras. It is richly illustrated with recent pictures taken in Alaska by the author Jan Curtis. Jan also provides animations, movies, articles and links.
Northern Lights: http://www.northern-lights.no
This is another site on Auroras made in Norway. It is nicely designed. It provides explanations on the physical phenomenon, information on aurora activity, a photo contest and other goodies !
The SDSU's Introduction to Green Flashes: http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF
Green flashes are real (not illusory) phenomena seen at sunrise and sunset, when some part of the Sun suddenly changes color (at sunset, from red or orange to green or blue). The word flash refers to the sudden appearance and brief duration of this green color, which usually lasts only a second or two at moderate latitudes. This page provides pictures, explanations, animations and further links related to green flashes.
The Solar Physics Group: http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar
The Solar Physics Group of the Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC) Space Science Department is composed of 15 scientists involved in various studies of the physics of the Sun. It provides a lot of information on the sun, its structure, its activity…
The SOHO Mission: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was built in Europe for a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA, and launched in 1995. It carries twelve sets of instruments provided by European and American scientific teams, for fundamental studies of the solar interior and atmosphere, energetic particle emissions, and the solar wind. This site provides all the information about this mission. It features very impressive pictures of the sun, do not miss the Best of SOHO pages !
The Ulysses Mission: http://helio.estec.esa.nl/ulysses
Ulysses is a space mission from NASA designed to explore the unknown region of space above the poles of the Sun. Launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery in October, 1990, Ulysses flew by Jupiter in February, 1992, where a gravity assist manoeuvre placed the spacecraft in a unique solar polar orbit, allowing it to fly over the south pole of the Sun in 1994 and over the north pole in 1995. With the first phase of its mission successfully completed, Ulysses has now embarked on a second orbit of the Sun, which it will complete in December, 2001. This site provides all the information about this mission.
Canada Centre for Remote Sensing: http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca
The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) is responsible for the acquisition of Earth observation data and for the development of remote sensing applications. Its web server provides an online Atlas of Canada, remote sensing tutorials, information on climate change, publications and a service called GeoGratis with free geospatial data for Canada. You can even tour Canada from Space !
ESA Science: http://sci.esa.int
The Space Science Department of the European Space Agency (ESA) has set up this well designed server which provides information on all their missions, images from their instruments and findings from their studies.
NASA's Earth Observatory: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
The purpose of the Earth Observatory is to provide to the public new satellite imagery and scientific information about the earth's climate. It features sections on the atmosphere, oceans, land, life on earth, heat & energy and remote sensing. The information is presented using short articles and stunning illustrations.
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies: http://www.giss.nasa.gov
The Goddard Institute for Space Studies is a subdivision of the Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Directorate, GISS is primarily engaged in studies of global climate change. Its web site provides a wealth of information on research studies, publications, datasets and images and of course climate change.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is the largest organization of combined scientists and engineers dedicated to learning and sharing their knowledge of the Earth, solar system, and Universe. Its web server provides a very useful education resource directory, a complete list of their satellites and numerous images of the Earth.
SEAWIFS: http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html
The purpose of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project from NASA is to obtain accurate ocean color data from the world's oceans for a 5-year period. Subtle changes in ocean color indicate various types and quantities of marine phytoplankton (microscopic marine plants). The purpose of this data is to examine oceanic factors that affect global change and to assess the oceans' role in the global carbon cycle, as well as other biogeochemical cycles. The site provides spacecraft information, technical reports, data set images and teacher's resources.
SOHO: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was built in Europe for a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA, and launched in 1995. It carries twelve sets of instruments provided by European and American scientific teams, for fundamental studies of the solar interior and atmosphere, energetic particle emissions, and the solar wind. This site provides all the information about this mission. It features very impressive pictures of the sun, do not miss the Best of SOHO pages !
SPOT: http://www.spotimage.fr
The Spot programme was developed in 1982 by the French Space Agency CNES, in cooperation with Belgium and Sweden. The orbit of a Spot satellite is polar, circular and sun-synchronous. A Spot satellite flies over the same points on the ground, every 26 days. It produces images at a resolution of 20 meters or less. This site provides all the information about the family of SPOT satellites.
TOPEX/POSEIDON: http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov
This project is a partnership between the US and France to monitor global ocean circulation, discover the tie between the oceans and atmosphere, and improve global climate predictions. Every 10 days, the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite measures global sea level with unparalleled accuracy.
ULYSSES: http://helio.estec.esa.nl/ulysses
Ulysses is a space mission from NASA designed to explore the unknown region of space above the poles of the Sun. Launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery in October, 1990, Ulysses flew by Jupiter in February, 1992, where a gravity assist manoeuvre placed the spacecraft in a unique solar polar orbit, allowing it to fly over the south pole of the Sun in 1994 and over the north pole in 1995. With the first phase of its mission successfully completed, Ulysses has now embarked on a second orbit of the Sun, which it will complete in December, 2001.
EARTH Sciences Directorate Portal: http://webserv.gsfc.nasa.gov/ESD/portal
The Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Directorate has set up a portal which combines a searchable links directory and a web crawler search engine that covers all NASA's web-based information related to Earth sciences. The system is well designed, it is a pleasure to browse !
IDMP: http://idmp.entpe.fr
IDMP stands for the International Daylight Measurement Programme which is a worldwide network of daylight and solar radiation measuring stations. This site provides complete information on all the IDMP stations as of 1998. It will be updated in 2004.
NASA's SSE: http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse
SSE stands for Surface Solar Energy. This site has been set up by the NASA Langley Research Center which processes, archives and distributes Earth science data. Data is available for the entire globe at a resolution of 1° in latitude and 1° in longitude, as monthly means of 10 years (1983-1993).
SODA: http://www.soda-is.com
This 3-Year European project (2000-2002) has allowed to develop a Web service which integrates transparently diverse sources of information which were presently available separately (i.e. long term monthly or daily averages and short term half hours). This service is now operational. It provides high quality value-added information on solar radiation and solar energy systems that match the actual customer needs.
The NREL Solar Radiation Resource Information: http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar
This site has been set up by NRL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, Colorado. It offers solar radiation information for 239 cities in the US, for 30 years (1961-1999). The information is presented either as hourly data files or as daily statistics files. It also provides codes, algorithms, spectra and links.
The Remote Sensing Virtual Library: http://www.vtt.fi/tte/research/tte1/tte14/virtual
The Remote Sensing Group of the Technical Research Centre in Finland has set up a virtual library which gathers numerous links to organizations, conferences, societies, journals in the field of remote sensing.
World Weather 2010: http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu
The World Weather 2010 (WW2010) is a web site being developed at the University of Illinois. It produces every day, for the US, many different current and forecast weather maps. It features helper sections, which describe how to interpret the products, and online guides, which cover a variety of topics in meteorology and remote sensing. Finally, case studies describe memorable weather events (a severe snow storm, a hurricane). Each case study contains archived data: satellite images, surface images, plus some additional explanatory resources to help with the interpretation of the weather images.
AVALANCHE: http://www.ret-market.org/index.html
This is a project sponsored by the European Commission. Its purpose is to deliver general information as well as technical specifications for a range of products related to renewable energy. The technical specifications adopt a common format which ease the comparison between the products coming from various manufacturers. Some simple simulation programs are made available on-line to evaluate the performance of the products.
JAMES&JAMES: http://www.jxj.com
James and James is one of the leader in providing information for energy and environment professionals worldwide. It publishes books and magazines in the fields of energy and sustainable architecture. The site will allow you to read the online issues of their magazines, find out about their books. They publish an international database of suppliers of energy and environmental products and services which is also available online.
PLANET OBSERVER: http://www.planetobserver.com
This site has been set up by the M-SAT company which specializes in high definition satellite images covering large areas of the Earth's surface. These images are assembled from hundreds of smaller images, coming from the main observation satellites such as LANDSAT, SPOT, COSMOS and NOAA. The areas presently covered are Europe and the United States, with a resolution of 30 meters or less. From these images M-SAT sells a unique collection of over 400 wall maps, CD ROMs, and other associated products. You can even create your own map !
REFOCUS: http://www.re-focus.net
REFOCUS is the International Renewable Energy Magazine, the official membership magazine of ISES. This well designed web site provides an introduction to the magazine with content from past and current issues. It presents on line articles, web links and an events diary. Thanks to this site, you will not miss important events anymore !
RETScreen: http://www.retscreen.net
RETScreen International is a Renewable Energy Project Analysis Software developed by the CANMET Diversification Research Laboratory (CEDRL) of Canada. The software is made of a suite of MS Excel worksheets, each worksheet being dedicated to a specific system: PV, Solar air heating, Solar Water heating… The software is available for free from this well designed site which also provides all the adequate documentation.
SOLAR ENERGY: http://www.elsevier.nl/inca/publications/store/3/2/9/index.htt
Published by Elsevier Science, Solar Energy is the official journal of ISES. It is devoted exclusively to the science and technology of solar energy applications. This page provides access to the content of current and past issues (after 1995).
SPOT IMAGE: http://www.spotimage.fr
Spot Image, created in 1982, is the first commercial company established to distribute geographic information derived from the Spot satellites. It has now more than 90 resellers worldwide. The site provides detailed information on the different applications in which the data from SPOT can be used.
AGORES: http://www.agores.org
AGORES stands for A Global Overview of Renewable Energy Sources. Set up by the European Commission, this site is the most extensive European information centre and knowledge gateway for renewable energy.
CIE: http://www.cie.co.at/cie
The CIE is the International Commission of Illumination: an organization within which people around the world share their expertise in the field of light and lighting to define guidelines, recommendations and standards. This site provides information on all CIE activities and supported events.
CIE Division 3: http://ciediv3.entpe.fr
A division of the CIE focusing on interior environment and lighting design. This site describes in details all the activities of the division.
EERE: http://www.eere.energy.gov
EERE is the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy portal set up by the US Department of Energy (DOE). Its site is a very impressive resource of information providing access to hundreds of web sites and thousands of documents on energy efficiency and renewable energy. Do not miss it !
ESA: http://www.esa.int
ESA, the European Space Agency, provides a vision of Europe’s future in space, and of the benefits for people on the ground that satellites can supply. It develops the strategies needed to fulfil the vision, through collaborative projects, in space science and technology. This site provides all the information on the strategy of Europe regarding space.
EUMETSAT:http://www.eumetsat.de
EUMETSAT is an inter-governmental organization whose primary objective is to establish, maintain and exploit European systems of operational meteorological satellites such as the Meteosat series of satellites. It is responsible for the launch and operation of the satellites and for delivering satellite data to end users as well as contributing to the operational monitoring of climate.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: http://www.cordis.lu
CORDIS, the Community Research and Development Information Service provides information on a vast range of research, development and innovation activities undertaken on a European level.
ISES: http://www.ises.org
The ISES is the International Solar Energy Society. Its objective is to encourage the use and acceptance of Renewable Energy technologies. ISES members are industrials, researchers, individuals or institutions who support Renewable Energy. This site provides information on all ISES activities. It also features WIRE, the World wide Information System for Renewable Energy. WIRE is a central place where you can read news, discuss topics, even submit your own information !
NASA: http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news
Get all the news from NASA with the news center set up by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
UNFCCC: http://www.unfccc.int
UNFCCC is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is a one-stop source of news, data, information and documents related to climate change. Search for their information kit in the library, it provides answers to most of the questions you may have on this subject.
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