DYNAMIC EARTH is a 24-minute ultra high resolution fulldome production, narrated by the actor Liam Neeson. It’s now playing at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC and full dome theaters around the world.
The show explores the inner workings of Earth’s climate system. With visualizations based on satellite monitoring data and advanced supercomputer simulations, this cutting-edge production follows a trail of energy that flows from the Sun into the interlocking systems that shape our climate: the atmosphere, oceans, and the biosphere. Audiences will ride along on swirling ocean and wind currents, dive into the heart of a monster hurricane, come face-to-face with sharks and gigantic whales, and fly into roiling volcanoes.
Dynamic Earth explores concepts and terms essential to understanding the climate:
· The relationship of Earth and the Sun. The Earth is close enough to the Sun to bask in its warmth, thanks to a series of natural defenses, including its magnetic field.
· Life and the carbon cycle. Earth’s climate control system depends on the ability of living organisms to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it long term.
· Plate tectonics and its role in the carbon cycle. Audiences will learn that CO2 emissions from human activities now outpace volcanoes 200 fold.
· Comparision with Venus. The story of our sister planet shows just how unique Earth is in its ability to regulate atmospheric CO2 and global temperatures.
· Perspective on climate change. The program fills in major gaps in the public’s understanding of climate change, by placing it in a broader context of what shapes Earth’s climate.
Dynamic Earth is the result of a two-year long collaboration between Spitz Creative Media, the Advanced Visualization Lab at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, and Thomas Lucas Productions, Inc. Produced in association with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and NASA Earth Science.
