In the Zone
FROM TWO SMALL OFFICES IN Fairchild Hall—and an adjacent computer lab shared with the earth sciences and environmental studies departments- researcher Bob Brakenridge and his team at the Dartmouth Flood Observatory monitor the globe for high water. They do this by downloading satellite images of the earths surface that can be searched in segments of 10 degrees longitude by 10 degrees latitude, roughly 750,000 square miles.
This is not merely an academic exercise. The observatory's Web site and atlas of archival data are authoritative sources for everyone from Third World government officials wondering if they have stranded villagers to relief workers wanting to deploy aid; from those contemplating construction in floodplains to insurance companies trying to determine if underwriting those properties is a sound investment. Then, of course, there are the college students from across the country who visit the observatory Web site www.dartmouth.edu/~floods as part of their curricula.
The practical applications of Brakenridge's work are what makes his job worth- while. "It's satisfying to do something useful rather than write an article that sits in a bound volume in a library," he says.
Established in 1991, the observatory has been funded primarily by successive three-year, $300,000-plus grants from NASA, the most recent of which expires this spring. While NATO has underwritten supervision of a grant applied for in concert with Hungary and Romania, and there is lesser funding for specific projects, Brakenridge does have concerns about his budget, um, drying up. "I worry that if I move on, this will end," he says.
