By Deborah Byrd in
Blogs | Earth on Jun 19, 2012

NASA video excerpt chosen as best in computer graphics

Ocean circulation via NASA

Great visualizations of what happens when the sun sends a powerful CME our way – and of Earth’s ocean circulation.

The video excerpt below is from NASA, which has done a great job in recent years of creating visualizations via animation that can help us understand the world around us. This particular excerpt – which shows a coronal mass ejection (CME) and then moves on to display Earth’s ocean circulation – was chosen as a “select entry” for 2012 at an annual conference that presents and publishes the best in computer graphics and technical research.

Deborah Byrd is Founder and President of EarthSky, which she created in 1991. EarthSky is a digital publisher that brings science and nature to millions of people around the world. Byrd has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. Besides blogging, Byrd is Editor-in-Chief of all EarthSky websites and social media outlets, and she oversees EarthSky’s science podcast series in English and Spanish. A science communicator and educator for 35 years, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and as a vital tool for the 21st century. Astrophysics, the night sky and imagining space travel remain among her most enduring lifelong passions.