Use of satellite and ocean images to inform the Australian community

Sandra Zicus – Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems CRCCraig Macaulay – CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship

Painting pictures

Outreach – more than painting pictures

Matthews Flinders:

“……the flood therefore came from the west, and not from the eastward, as at Furneaux Isles.

“This we considered to be strong proof, not only of the real existence of a passage betwixt this land and New South Wales, but also that the entrance into the Southern Indian Ocean could not be far distant”.

December 8, 1798

Use of images

Attention grabbing…

Use of images

Entertaining…

Use of images

Information sharing…

Use of images

Cave art – Altamira, Spain

Fragment of ancient map from Babylonia

The use of images in communication is nothing new.

A little history

Oceans currents in 1921.

Visualisation

Adelaide Advertiser, 6 March 2007

Right place, right time

Underwater volcano Kavachi, 2000.

Wider awareness

Spot the difference

Images are great tools for attracting attention.

But what do they mean?

Visual communication

• The viewer’s background understanding

• The context

Images have to be interpreted.

The ‘meaning’ of an image depends on:

NASA/WMAP

Learning the language

Different disciplines use different visual languages.

Interpreting images

NASA/WMAP Science Team

Visual literacy

• Visual thinking - developing mental images, visual problem solving, pattern recognition & synthesis

• Visual learning - process of interpretation

• Visual communication - using visual symbols to express ideas and convey meaning to others

The power of animations

Oceans of change

• $12,000 program

• Funded by Australian Climate Change Science Program & CSIRO

• Originally intended for media use

• Available for use in education and public displays

International collaboration

Neville Smith, John Gould

The Argo story

International collaboration

• Written in England and Canada

• Designed in Hobart

• Printed in Japan

• Delivered to Venice

International collaboration

www.ipy.org

• March 2007 – March 2009

• Bipolar research

• Multidisciplinary

• 63 countries

• 50,000 participants

• US $1.5 billion

International Polar Year

International Polar Year

An opportunity to:

• enhance international collaboration and cooperation through sharing of information and educational resources

• improve visual literacy among the public through education and outreach

Thank you!