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in our disclaimer.
This cache plays an important role in assisting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Landsat Program! PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE DESCRIPTION BEFORE CHOOSING TO ATTEMPT THIS CACHE!
This cache requests your participation with a NASA and USGS Citizen Science project. As with all geocaches, you are under no obligation to participate in the study to log this find. Choosing to contribute to this study will require you to take 6 photographs and answer a few simple questions. Should you decide not to participate in the study, you may still log the cache (but you won't be nearly as cool in my book.). Thanks for your understanding.
Landsat represents the world's longest continuously acquired collection of space-based moderate-resolution land remote sensing data. Nearly four decades of imagery provides a unique resource for those who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, and global change research. Landsat images are also invaluable for emergency response and disaster relief.
As a joint initiative between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA, the Landsat Project and the data it collects support government, commercial, industrial, civilian, military, and educational communities throughout the United States and worldwide. The Adopt-A-Pixel Program is being conducted by NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the NASA/USGS Landsat Team, and their partners:
· 4-H
· The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
· Bandelier National Monument, US National Park Service
· Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, US National Park Service
The eighth and most recent Landsat Satellite was launched February 11, 2013. Like its predecessors, this satellite will be providing images with 30-meter resolution, making a complete revolution of the earth approximately every 24 hours. Each pixel on the image represents approximately 30m on the ground. Pretty remarkable, considering these satellites are hundreds of miles above the earth. It would be something similar to seeing three blades of grass from the other side of the football field!
The Landsat Science Team has the job of understanding these data so they can know and tell other people exactly and specifically how our planet is changing over time. For many reasons, the scientists need to check the satellite data with observations made by people on the ground in order to have the greatest possible confidence in the accuracy of their work.
That’s where you come in. Your observations can contribute significantly to the value of the satellite data for national and global agriculture, climate, disaster management, ecosystems and biodiversity energy, fire, forest management, human health, urban growth and more.
NASA and the USGS are inviting citizen scientists across the world to Adopt a Pixel. So, I’ve created this geocache so that you can help NASA observe this 30m pixel of space on an ongoing basis! While Geocaching has removed the “Additional Logging Requirements”, I am hoping that you will choose to help out (in addition to claiming your smiley!) this project by taking a few extra minutes to fill out the “Data Sheet” in the log book.
You will need to be able to take six pictures in order to complete the data sheet, so be sure to have some sort of a digital camera (cell phone camera, tablet camera, point and shoot, SLR, etc…) with you. When you find the cache, use your camera to take the following images (be sure to take them in sequence:
· One image, facing North
· One image, facing East
· One image, facing South
· One image, facing West
· One image, facing up to the sky
· One image, facing down to the ground.
There are some critical ground rules for these images:
Landscape Photos: Your photographs should be in landscape format, not in portrait (they should be longer than they are tall). Views that are not too distant will be best (such as far off mountains). At the same time, we will not be able to use close-ups such as tree trunks. Somewhere in between is what we need.
Level: Make sure that your images are as level as you can.
No People: Please do not include any people in your photographs, unless they are unrecognizable.
Modifications: Please do not modify your photographs in any way before submitting them.
Ownership: Once you have uploaded the pictures, they will become public domain. Photographers should have no assumption of ownership.
Landsat Satellite Overpass: Photographs taken at the same time as the Landsat Satellite is passing overhead will be particularly useful. Typically, the satellite passes over this location at approximately 10:30am daily. You can still participate, even if you find this cache at another time, but pictures taken around 10:30am are most useful for the scientists.
Once you have taken these six images, please take a moment to fill in the Data Sheet which is provided inside the cache container. It is a little more involved than a typical log sheet, but it won’t take any more than 5 minutes to help out NASA.
When you log this cache online, I will ask you to please email your six images to the cache owner (jah249@cornell.edu). I will collect the images, and will periodically replace the log book. I will submit all of the data and the images to NASA on a monthly basis.
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE ADOPT-A-PIXEL PROGRAM!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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