Talks at Google: How (and Why) Does NASA Study the Earth from Space?

On July 28th at Google, NASA’s Steve Hipskind spoke on the topic of “No Place Like Home: How (and Why) Does NASA Study the Earth from Space?” This video is part of an ongoing series of “Talks at Google”.
“Pictures of the Earth from space say a lot about the state of the planet. Google Earth has put those pictures into the hands of virtually everyone on the planet. But how do we know how much CO2 is in the atmosphere, how it is distributed and how it is impacting the climate? How do we know the health of the stratospheric ozone layer that protects all life on Earth from damaging solar radiation? What is the one observation from space that is the only unique signature of human presence? And why do we care? Come hear answers and perspectives on these and other questions about the only planet we know to harbor life.

BIO: Steve Hipskind is the Chief of the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames. The division is primarily a research group working on global to local problems in Earth system science using NASA?s unique perspective from space. Steve grew up wanting to be an oceanographer watching and reading Jacques Cousteau?s Silent World and the adventures of Mike Nelson on the TV series Sea Hunt. A graduate course in meteorology changed his primary fluid from the ocean to the atmosphere. Prior to becoming the division chief, Steve conducted research in stratosphere-troposphere exchange and managed NASA airborne field campaigns around the world. His fieldwork has taken him from Punta Arenas, Chile on the Strait of Magellan to Kiruna, Sweden above the Arctic circle.”