Earth Gallery

Visitors enter the Earth Gallery on the main level. There, suspended before them, is a beautiful, shimmering sphere — Planet Earth. Moving around the sphere, they see several warmly glowing corrals where other visitors are engaged in activities. Through windows in the back of the gallery, they notice a small garden just outside the doors. To one side, they see a ramp that leads down to a large water tank on the lower level.

The Earth Gallery is devoted to investigations of Earth as a holistic, life-supporting system. Visitors engage in activities and learn about the sciences, tools, and methodologies that scientists at Stennis use to explore Earth’s oceans, land masses, and atmosphere and the interactions among them. They also learn how scientists apply the knowledge they gain to improve the environment and life on Earth.

The exhibit/activity areas in the Earth Gallery are:

• Global Patterns - a sphere with projected images illustrating global patterns on Earth.
• Remote Sensing Lab - an examination of the local ecosystem using a combination of space-based technology and groundtruthing.
• Environmental Monitoring - an array of real-time observations of the environment using a range of instruments.
• Watershed Model - a hands-on hydrology model for understanding the role of watersheds and wetlands.
• Severe Weather Center - a multi-participant simulation using hurricane prediction models.
• Deep Ocean Lab - a simulation in a large water tank of the survey techniques used to gather bathymetric information about the sea floor.