Mathematical Images of Planet Earth
Abstract
introductionSince the 1970s we have grown used to the outside view of planet Earth, mediated either by satellite images or simulation images of computer models of the planet's atmosphere and climate.These views from the outside evoke the impression that we see an object, the planet Earth, and that everything we see in these images is representative of real states of the planet.However, this is not the case for most of today's images of Earth.What we really see are images of mathematical narrations of Earth.The reasons for this are the following: today's imaging of Earth always involves enormous amounts of mathematics, either for satellite views like NASA's Blue Marble: Next Generation or for visualized model versions based on the computer simulation known as General Circulation Atmosphere and Ocean Models (AOGCMs).1 Although satellite images count as empirical data while model visualizations apply as virtual data, both data types share the same mathematical narration of Earth.This mathematical narration is given by physico-mathematical theory, in particular by hydro-and thermodynamics, and is employed in algorithms that drive satellite devices as well as simulation models.Interestingly, advanced measurement technologies like satellite-based Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) involve three to four times more software code -and, in turn, mathematics -than atmosphere and ocean models.2 Thus, the core question of this paper is: How much mathematics do we
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