Today marks the debut of a collaborative exhibit between NASA and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History: the Earth Information Center, which will show the impacts of climate change through interactive data visualizations. The one-room, 2,000-square-foot exhibit, which will be on display until 2028, delves into changes happening on Earth, as seen both from the ground and from space—a combination of the two organizations’ research. It features two digital displays and two touch-screen interactives: one that is focused on land, using maps to document climate changes such as precipitation patterns in the US, and another that shows Earth from space, charting 14 different visualizations—including ozone quality, sea levels, and the movement of satellites around the planet. The main attraction for the Earth Information Center is a 32-foot-long curved screen cycling through various data visualizations such as wildfires happening across the world, disaster responses, temperature changes, and more across the planet, all in real time. Between the datasets, short videos will play, highlighting scenes from our Earth and how the data is being used to help combat environmental issues. The exhibit allows museum-goers to see the worldwide implications of climate change and reflect upon how it is manifesting, not only on a worldwide scale, but also by zooming in on a particular area of a map. The “Discover Your Hometown Dashboard” activity allows users to select their hometown and see how environmental factors such as precipitation, temperature, and greenhouse gas emissions have evolved there. On the second touchscreen, “Eyes on the Earth,” visitors can see a depiction of Earth from NASA’s satellites, which monitor planetary vital signs and report a top-down view of weather events and natural disasters as they happen. By taking a museum approach to scientific data, NASA and the Smithsonian hope the exhibit will help people understand the science that is affecting them. “So much of science is by scientists, for scientists,” says Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History. “But this museum has [taken] the amazing output of NASA and the work of the Smithsonian to make it science for everyone.” When they say everyone, they mean everyone, including those who cannot make it to the museum. The work of the Earth Information Center is ever-changing and available both on display at the National Museum of Natural History and online at earth.gov.The post The Smithsonian and NASA Unveil Earth Information Center first appeared on Washingtonian.