Google Earth Puts Global Warming Firmly in the Spotlight

From Google Sky to Google Earth, the search giant has changed the way we see the world.

And now Google is putting climate change smack dab in the center of its maps of the planet.

Hallelujah!  

The big news burst out of Britain this week, after UK Primer Minister Gordon Brown unveiled a new Google Earth application that can visualize how global warming will affect the Earth and its people over the next century.

"Climate Change in Our World," as it's called, is a joint venture of The Met Office Hadley Center, British Antarctic Survey and the UK government. Be sure to check it out at the Google Earth blog (download required).

One of its animations will send you 50 years into the past for a visual tour of the Antarctic melt.  And it gets personal, too. Have a click around and you'll unEarth first-hand stories from people whose lives are being upended by climate changes.

Not on the media radar yet, for the most part -- but just as cool -- is Google's forthcoming venture to move below sea level with its 3D oceanographic maps.

It's known, for now, as Google Ocean. 

Just like Google Earth, it will enable users to visualize detailed underwater topography (bathymetry), search for attractions and navigate by zooming and panning.

Expect it to be a big boon for the field. CNET's Green Tech Blog explains:

While satellite imagery has the entire globe covered, as well as a good amount of known outer space, much less is known about the bodies of water that cover about 70 percent of the planet. Only a small percentage of the sea floor has been mapped in detail by sonar.

Predictions abound that Google Ocean will provide detailed data about potential ocean wave power sites, for the first time ever.

Say what you will about the dangers of one company controlling search on the Web -- and there may be plenty.

But from a climate-fighting perspective, in Google (it seems) we can trust.

No?

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