Visualization of and Access to CloudSat Vertical Data through Google Earth Aijun Chen 1,2 , Gregory Leptoukh 2 , Liping Di 1 , Steven Kempler 2 and Christopher Lynnes 2 1 George Mason University, 6301 Ivy Lane, Ste.620, Greenbelt, MD 20770, USA 2 Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 610.2, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA Abstract: Online tools, pioneered by the Google Earth (GE), are facilitating the way in which scientists and general public interact with geospatial data in real three dimensions. However, even in Google Earth, there is no method for depicting vertical geospatial data derived from remote sensing satellites as an orbit curtain seen from above. Here, an effective solution is proposed to automatically render the vertical atmospheric data on Google Earth. The data are first processed through the Giovanni system, then, processed to be 15-second vertical data images. A generalized COLLADA model is devised based on the 15-second vertical data profile. Using the designed COLLADA models and satellite orbit coordinates, a satellite orbit model is designed and implemented in KML format to render the vertical atmospheric data in spatial and temporal ranges vividly. The whole orbit model consists of repeated model slices. The model slices, each representing 15 seconds of vertical data, are placed on the CloudSat orbit based on the size, scale, and angle with the longitude line that are precisely and separately calculated on the fly for each slice according to the CloudSat orbit coordinates. The resulting vertical scientific data can be viewed transparently or opaquely on Google Earth. Not only is the research bridged the science and data with scientists and the general public in the most popular way, but simultaneous visualization and efficient exploration of the relationships among quantitative geospatial data, e.g. comparing the vertical data profiles with MODIS and AIRS precipitation data, becomes possible. Keywords : Vertical Geospatial Data; Google Earth; CloudSat; COLLADA; Orbit Curtain 1. Introduction Google Earth combines satellite imagery, aerial photography, and map data to make a 3D interactive template of the world. People can then discover, add, and share information about any subject in the world that has a geographical element (Nature 2006). The virtual globe represented by Google Earth is a digitalized Earth that allows ‘flying’ from space (virtually) down through progressively higher resolution data sets to hover above any point on the Earth’s surface, and then displays information relevant to that location from an infinite number of sources (Butler 2006). Its highest purpose was to use the Earth itself as an organizing metaphor for digital information. Now, the Google Earth virtual globe is changing the way scientists interact with the geospatial data, which like real life, can be presented in three dimensions. There is renewed hope that every sort of information on the state of the planet, from levels of toxic chemicals to the incidence of diseases, will become available to all with a few moves of the mouse (Butler 2006). Just as much research and many applications are moving from local machine-based environments to Nature Precedings : doi:10.1038/npre.2007.595.1 : Posted 3 Aug 2007