No Pixel Left Behind: Interactively Visualizing "Everything" from NASA's Earth Observations

The problem: satellite swath overlaps. Polar orbiting satellites like Terra, Aqua, and the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi-NPP satellite circle the globe from pole to pole, collecting data daily, swath by swath. Having this density of data is great for building a comprehensive mosaic of the planet, but sometimes there is something interesting occurring in one swath but is covered by a subsequent swath when the satellite passes over 90 minutes later. With our new prototype based on Worldview and the Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), we combine the best of both worlds to interactively visualize the entire globe as a mosaic and allow the user to _peel away the overlaps_ to see every pixel that was observed by the satellite. This ability to look at every pixel - and to know when they were captured - is especially important near the poles where swath overlaps are most common.