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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
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New vision of climate change through Google Earth

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: Millions of Google Earth users around the world will be able to see how climate change could affect the planet and its people over the next century, along with viewing the loss of Antarctic ice shelves over the past 50 years.

All this is possible through a new project “Climate Change in Our World,” launched as collaboration between Google, the U.K. government, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the British Antarctic Survey.

The project provides two new ‘layers’ or animations to the users of Google Earth. One animation uses world’s leading climate science from the Met Office Hadley Centre to show world temperatures throughout the next 100 years under medium projections of greenhouse emissions, along with stories of how people in the U.K. and in some of the world’s poorest countries are already being affected by changing weather patterns.

Users also access information on action that individuals, communities, businesses and governments can take to tackle climate change. It also highlights good works already under way.

Another animation, developed by the British Antarctic Survey, shows the retreat of the Antarctic ice caps since the 1950s, and features facts about climate change science and impacts in the Antarctic.

The project was launched by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the Google Zeitgeist conference on Monday. British Environment Minister Hilary Benn said climate change was redrawing the map of the world and unless the people acted, its impacts would be felt everywhere as sea levels rise, crops fail, extreme weather increases and more areas face the risk of drought and flood.

This project shows people the reality of climate change using estimates of both the change in the average temperature where they live, and the impact it will have on people’s lives all over the world, including in Britain, he said.

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