Apollo News Snippets – April 2021

• It’s that time again for my favorite part of the News Snippets, our technology review!
  Is vertical farming the wave of the future?
  Ethanol gas might produce less carbon than traditional petroleum.
  New fuel cell design promises to be more sustainable and longer-lasting.
  Forest debris could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  New technology could improve capture of energy from waste heat.
  Improved lithium-ion batteries with silicon anodes.
  Intriguing new heating and air conditioning solution that requires no energy.
  Improved manufacturing techniques cut time to produce wind turbine blades.
  New window generates power from the inside and the outside.
  New technology could make burning natural gas more sustainable.

The February 2021 NOAA temperature departure map has more blue than we are used to seeing in the 21^st Century with cool pockets over North America and Asia–and then a pocket of record warmth over central Asia.

• The February 2021 NOAA global climate report is out and it has some of the most unique weather patterns we have covered in this short-lived series. First, North America and northern Asia were characterized by an unusually long Artic Oscillation; which resulted in the coldest February in North America since 1994 and the 20^th coldest on record. But even with this extended cold period, some 4.75% of the planet saw record warmth in the month and it was the 16^th warmest February in the 142-year record. We also continue to be encouraged by the Biden’s administration action on Climate Change and the environment, and we hope that some monumental laws will be passed by Congress in the near future.

• April 23^rd is National Picnic Day, yay! But before you pack your bags and head out on a picnic, check out this thesis by Jonathan Parsons of the University of Southern California which was found with a simple Google search of, “GIS and picnics.” In his research, Jonathan employs ArcGIS to determine park distances from land parcels in order to find a more equitable distribution of open lands to all Wake County, NC residents.

• Last month we finished up our review of the second largest city’s GIS per state with a stop in Casper, Wyoming; and so for this month we start all over at the top of the list with Alabama’s third largest city, Mobile!
  Mobile, AB GIS Website
  Mobile, AB GIS Contacts
  Mobile, AB GIS Web Map
  Mobile, AB GIS Map Collections (looks like they had free PDF maps at one time but the link is broken)
  Mobile, AB GIS Direct Downloads (you will need to accept the disclaimer first)

Brock Adam McCarty
Map Wizard
(720) 470-7988
brock@apollomapping.com