Australia From Space Exhibit Dr. Young's CV Dr. Young's Home Page Earth Exposed Exhibit
Australia From Space
Project
Development History
Professor Stephen S. Young has worked with satellite imagery for almost two decades and has
published over a dozen peer-reviewed articles in such journals as “The
International Journal of Remote Sensing,” and “Photogrammetric
Engineering and Remote Sensing” among others. He has a Ph. D. in geography from Clark University, a Masters
degree in environmental studies from Yale University and a Bachelors degree in
environmental studies from the University of Vermont.
For professor Young, presenting remote sensing-based
research to learners has led to the question of how to best present, or
visualize satellite imagery. Young works primarily with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) satellite-based Advance Very High
Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data in the exploration of vegetation change at
the global and regional scales (Young and Harris, 2005; Young and Wang, 2001;
Young and Anyamba, 1999). As a researcher and college professor, he explores the
relationship between climate and plant productivity as well as human-induced
land-cover change. Infusing undergraduate and graduate classes with remote
sensing-based research has resulted in students understanding some of the
imagery but not others. Over time, Young became intrigued by this differential
understanding and began a “hallway gallery” where different imagery
displayed for all students, staff, faculty and public to view. There was a wide
range of responses to the understanding of the imagery. This work further led to
the question of how to visualize imagery for the general public. The next step
was putting together a gallery exhibit to see how well Young could visualize
different aspects of remote sensing and Earth science and to see how people
react to this imagery. Driving questions emerged. How can we convey the
image’s scientific information for different populations, from the public to
graduate students? How can we best manipulate the imagery so that it can show
meaning to viewers with a minimum amount of words or background knowledge?
Galleries and other public spaces provide an exciting
challenge for this research in that the imagery itself must bring across the
meaning—long written explanations are not part of this environment, unlike a
science museum setting. This constraint makes the visualization critical. While
some viewers just take pleasure in the beauty of the imagery in the true spirit
of the gallery experience, Young has noticed that often viewers have a desire to
learn more. Therefore, an educational component has been incorporated, but one
that will not impinge upon the gallery setting.
He first created and displayed a satellite image exhibit in
1998 at the Winfisky Gallery in Salem, Massachusetts. It has since been modified
and displayed at the Audubon Center in Topsfield, Massachusetts, at Clark
University in Worcester, Massachusetts, at Sasaki Associates in Watertown,
Massachusetts, at ArtWorks! in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at the Klein Gallery
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and most recently at the United States National
Science Foundation’s “Art of Science” gallery in Arlington, Virginia. The
exhibit has been funded by grants from Salem State University and the National
Science Foundation.
The exhibition has evolved through each of its showings
based on viewer feedback and the on-going geographic and visualization research
of professor Young. An extensive
educational component was incorporated during the Philadelphia exhibition where
numerous inner-city middle school students participated in the project and an
educational web site was created. This
project, known as The Earth Exposed, explained
science and remote sensing through art. The
exhibition has received extensive positive feedback and is now ready to change
once again, this time to focus on environmental issues and to incorporate an
international aspect and to get feedback from an international group of
geographers as the exhibit becomes more international in focus and content.
While this project focuses on exposing people not only to
beautiful images of the Earth, but to environmental issues and the functioning
of remote sensing, there have been other related exhibitions.
Jon Christopherson and other scientists and engineers at the USGS EROS
Data Center, which manages the Landsat program, have created an “Earth as
Art” display which focuses on the beauty of the Earth as seen from space.
This group has selected 41 Landsat-based images for their striking
beauty, which have been on display at the U.S. Library of Congress in a show on
Earth as Art. Yann Arthus-Bertrand,
an aerial photographer, has put together a stunning exhibition of his
photographs from helicopters. His
focus is on capturing the Earth, at a human level as seen from above.
Almost all of his photos have people visible in the imagery (Arthus-Bertrand,
2001). One of the goals of his work
is to portray the human condition on Earth as seen from above.
His exhibits are stunning and popular, attesting to the attraction of
seeing the Earth from above
The project created for Australia is different from the
other two exhibits. While all three
are based on imaging the Earth from above, and using aesthetically pleasing
images to attract the viewer, the Landsat group primarily tries to present
beautiful images of Earth and only uses Landsat satellite imagery, and Arthus-Bertrand
tries to show the beauty of the Earth and the human condition on Earth, looking
at it from above at the human scale with photography.
Professor Young’s work
uses a variety of scales and data, from air photos to a wide range of satellite
imagery and tries to show how we are able to study the Earth from space as well
as elucidating geographic and environmental issues.
Arthus-Bertrand, Y., 2001.
Earth from Above: La Tierra Vista desde el
Cielo. Altitude: Paris, France.
Young, S.S. 2011a.
“The Earth exposed: how geographers use art and science in their exploration
of the Earth from space.” In GeoHumanities: Art, History, Text at the Edge
of Place Edited by M. Dear, J.
Ketchum, S. Luria, and D. Richardson. New York: Routledge. Chapter 19 pp.
183-186.
Young, S.S. 2011b.Case Study:
Mississippi-Lungs. International
Journal of Applied Geospatial Research.
July-September 2011. 2(3):
86-88.
Young, S.S., and Harris, R., 2005.
Changing patterns of global-scale vegetation photosynthesis, 1982-1999. International
Journal of Remote Sensing.
(Accepted June, 2005).
Young, S.S., and Anyamba,
A., 1999. Comparison of NOAA/NASA PAL and NOAA GVI data for vegetation
change studies over China. Photogrammetric
Engineering & Remote Sensing 65(6): 679-688.
Young, S.S., and
Wang, C.Y., 2001. Land-cover
change analysis of China using global-scale Pathfinder AVHRR Landcover (PAL)
data, 1982-92. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 22(8): 1457-1477.