Global Views by Don Rittner Need a good 'solid' picture of the earth? The National Geophysical Data Center has published a set of 20 slides using digital data generated from a database of land and sea-floor elevations based on a 5-minute latitude/longitude grid. The images generated from this data comprise a stunning series of 14 global views of the earth as well as a world view with earthquake epicenters, crustal plate boundaries, the famous "Pacific Ring of Fire" earthquake zone, and a close-up view of plates and epicenters for the Americas. The images are in full color, shaded relief, and show both land and undersea topography (no water). The global series show different view points of the earth such as the north and south poles and each major ocean area and land mass. A rectangular Mercator projection view of the whole earth is striking and would make a great wall map. The B&W coastal plate boundaries slide shows the boundaries in yellow, and earthquake epicenters greater than magnitude 5 from 1980 to 1990 in red. Political boundaries and coastlines of the US and other continents are overlain in white. A full color full view showing earthquake epicenters greater than magnitude 5 for 1990 is shown are red dots. Data comes from a variety of sources and the images are rendered using commercial and custom graphics programs. The full color slides can be used for a variety of educational (especially geology, environmental, and geography classes) and research purposes. Slide 17 - a world view with earthquake epicenters, is in black and white to make the seismic and plate boundary more visible. The 20 slide set costs $40 with a $10 handling fee. Credit cards are accepted. If you want a view not included in the set, you can request a custom image for an additional charge or receive the data on a disk for desktop publishing purposes. To order, contact NOAA/National Geophysical Data Center. Code E/GC4, Dept. 880, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303 (303) 497-6338 Copyright 1991 Don Rittner ---------- Don Rittner is the author of EcoLinking: Everyone's Guide to Online Information (Peachpit Press), a columnist for Environment News Service, and Host of America Online's Environmental Forum.