ENGL 500: English Practicum

Sources of Geographic and Environmental Data

Geographic and Environmental Data 2

Why these data?• A knowledge of geography is vital to understanding

the natural and cultural world around us.• Location affects many more phenomena than just

business.• The environment figures in many of the most vexing

issues facing society today.• The list that follows is far from exhaustive…

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Focus of this talk• Geographic resources• Weather and climate resources• Geological resources• Chemical resources• Emergency resources• Scientific societies• Non-governmental organizations• Journalism organizations

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Geographic resources • U.S. Census Bureau: American Factfinder --

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html– Population, housing, economic, and other data

• U.S. Census Bureau: International Data Base -- http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/– Demographic data, population pyramids

• U.S. Board on Geographic Names -- http://geonames.usgs.gov/– National and international place names

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Geographic resources• U.S. National Atlas -- http://www.nationalatlas.gov/• U.S. Census Bureau: Topologically Integrated

Geographic Encoding and Referencing system (TIGER) -- http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/– A geographic information system (GIS) that allows users to

display Census and other data• U.S. Census Bureau: LandView 6 --

http://www.census.gov/geo/landview/– Allows users to view U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, Census Bureau, and U.S. Geological Survey maps

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Geographic resources• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): The World

Factbook -- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): Maps, Imagery, and Publications -- http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/– Allows users to search for, and in some cases download,

USGS maps and other products

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Geographic resources• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA): Earth Observatory -- http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/– While far from comprehensive, it is a treasure trove of

satellite and other remotely sensed imagery• NASA/NOAA: Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites (GOES) -- http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/goes/– Satellite imagery from the GOES program

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Geographic resources• NASA/NOAA: Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites (GOES) -- http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/goes/– Satellite imagery from the GOES program

• NOAA: National Geophysical Data Center -- http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ngdc.html– A smorgasbord of geophysical data, including topographic

and bathymetric data• Google Earth -- http://www.google.com/earth/

– Explore the world from the safety of your computer

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Weather and climate resources• World Meteorological Organization (WMO) --

http://www.wmo.int– United Nations agency responsible for climate,

atmosphere, and oceans• WMO: World Weather Information Site --

http://worldweather.wmo.int/– Official weather data and forecasts from around the world

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Weather and climate resources• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA) -- http://www.noaa.gov– U.S. agency responsible for oceans, atmosphere, and

climate• NOAA: National Weather Service --

http://www.weather.gov– Weather data and forecasting

• NOAA: National Center for Environmental Prediction -- http://wwwt.ncep.noaa.gov/– Lots of cool imagery and forecast products

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Weather and climate resources• NOAA: National Hurricane Center --

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov– Subdivision of the National Weather Service responsible

for tropical weather data and forecasts• NOAA: National Climatic Data Center --

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov– NOAA center responsible for archiving many types of

climate data and climate proxy data• NOAA: Daily Weather Maps --

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/dailywxmap/

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Weather and climate resources• NASA: Global Climate Change --

http://climate.nasa.gov– I am probably the only person in the room who had e-mails

released in the Climate Gate affair, so I may be biased, but climate change is occurring and NASA has a lot of data here to help you learn about those changes.

• USGS: Water Data Discovery -- http://water.usgs.gov/data/– Primary national repository for water resources data

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Weather and climate resources• Weather & Climate Data -- http://wxmaps.org/

– Very nice maps and other graphics developed from NCEP data and model results

• Weather Underground -- http://www.wunderground.com– One of the coolest Web sites in the world

• World Climate -- http://www.worldclimate.com– Climate (not weather) data from locations around the world

• Weatherbase -- http://www.weatherbase.com/– Weather and climate data from locations around the world

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Geological resources• U.S. Geological Survey -- http://www.usgs.gov• USGS: Natural Hazards site --

http://www.usgs.gov/natural_hazards/– Main USGS portal to all sorts of natural hazard

(earthquakes, volcanoes, coastal storms, etc.) information• USGS: Earthquake Hazards Program --

http://earthquake.usgs.gov• USGS: Volcano Hazards Program --

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov

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Geological resources• Smithsonian Institution (SI): Global Volcanism

Program -- http://www.volcano.si.edu• NOAA: Tsunami Program --

http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov• NOAA: Pacific Tsunami Warning Center --

http://www.weather.gov/ptwc/

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Chemical resources• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA):

Envirofacts -- http://www.epa.gov/enviro/– Environmental data from localities across the U.S.

• USEPA: National Priorities List -- http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/– Sites that are listed in or being considered for listing in the

Superfund program• USEPA: Toxics Release Inventory --

http://www.epa.gov/tri/– Data on releases of toxic and other hazardous substances

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Chemical resources• USEPA: Integrated Risk Information System --

http://www.epa.gov/IRIS/– Toxicological data on substances regulated or considered

for regulation by the USEPA• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention: Agency

for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry -- http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov– Authoritative scientific reviews of toxicological data on

substances that are regulated or considered for regulation by USEPA and other agencies

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Chemical resources• Department of Transportation (DOT): Pipeline and

Hazardous Materials Safety Administration -- http://phmsa.dot.gov/– Agency regulates pipelines and transport of hazardous

materials• Emergency Response Guidebook --

http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/3/erg-gmu/erg/ergmenu.aspx– User-friendly guide to characteristics of hazardous

materials transported on highways and railways

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Emergency resources• World Health Organization (WHO): Emergency

Preparedness and Humanitarian Action -- http://www.emro.who.int/eha/

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) -- http://www.dhs.gov

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) -- http://www.fema.gov

• Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) -- http://www.osha.gov

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Emergency resources• CDC: Emergency Preparedness & Response --

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/cdc/orgs_progs.asp• National Response Framework --

http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-core.pdf• National Contingency Plan --

http://www.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_00/40cfr300_00.html

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Emergency resources• Virginia Department of Emergency Management

(VDEM) -- http://www.vaemergency.com• Virginia Department of Health (VDH): Emergency

Preparedness & Response Programs -- http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epr/

• Emergency and Disaster Information Service (EDIS): AlertMap -- http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php

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Scientific societies• American Association of Geographers –

http://www.aag.org• American Geophysical Union -- http://www.agu.org• American Meteorological Society --

http://www.ametsoc.org• Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

-- http://www.setac.org• Society for Risk Analysis -- http://www.sra.org• Society of Toxicology -- http://www.toxicology.org

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Non-governmental organizations• International Committee of the Red Cross --

http://www.icrc.org/eng/• American Red Cross -- http://www.redcross.org• Doctors without Borders --

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

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Journalism organizations• National Association of Science Writers --

http://www.nasw.org• Society of Environmental Journalists --

http://www.sej.org

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Ecological resources• The Encyclopedia of Earth: Biome –

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Biome/• World Wildlife Fund: Terrestrial Ecoregions –

http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions/item1267.html

• World Wildlife Fund: Marine Ecoregions of the World – http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions/marine/item1266.html

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Ecological resources• World Wildlife Fund: Freshwater Ecoregions of the

World – http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions/freshwater.html

• The Nature Conservancy: Freshwater Ecoregions of the World – http://www.feow.org

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