How is your bracket looking after the opening round of Tournament Earth? Unsurprisingly, top seeds Global Toll of Particulate Pollution (56.2 percent of votes), Snow Across Great Britain (50.7 percent), and Liege at Night (54.7) all dispatched weaker opponents in the first round of competition. The notable exception among the top seeds was Air Quality Suffering in China, which went down to eight-seeded Something Fishing in the Deep, Dark Ocean in a surprise loss in the events section, earning a mere 35.7 percent of votes. The other big upset of the opening round was seventh-seed Deforestation in Brazil knocking out second-seed Smoke Engulfs Singapore, with 50.9 percent of the vote. Haiyan’s Winds, Ship Tracks off North America, Fires in Colorado, and New Island Off Pakistan also went down in defeat against lesser opponents. Polls are open for you to vote for the sixteen images that remain through Friday at 4:00 p.m. EDT / 8:00 p.m. UTC. Vote at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/TournamentEarth/
R.I.P. Air Quality Suffering in China
I hope your brackets are ready because polls for round one of Tournament Earth close today at 4 p.m EST/9 p.m. UTC. Second round voting will open on Monday at 9 a.m. EST/ 1 p.m. UTC). Also, stay tuned for occasional posts on Earth Matters with details about how images fared in the competition.
The images in the tournament are a blend of reader and staff favorites from the 2013 calendar year. The images are seeded and divided into four brackets categorized by image type: data visualization, photographs, art, and events. The top seed in the data visualization bracket — and the No. 1 seed overall — is a global map of fine particulate pollution that garnered more than 150,000 page views in 2013. The photo section is topped by a nighttime view of Liege, Belgium, as photographed by an astronaut on the International Space Station. The “art” section is led by a satellite image of a rare snowfall in Great Britain. The top seed among natural events is a January 2013 satellite image of a smog and pollution over China — the second most popular image on the Earth Observatory last year. Six of the seven most-viewed images on the site are battling in the events section. Good luck with your bracket!
Vote at
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/TournamentEarth/
Create and print your bracket at
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/TournamentEarth/grid_interactive.php
Tournament: Earth 2013 has come to a stunning end. A newcomer to the landscape—a volcano that wasn’t even above the water’s surface at the beginning of 2012—literally came out of nowhere to win our first-ever tournament. The #7 seeded El Hierro submarine eruption from the “events” bracket captured the overall crown.
In a true Cinderella story, the underwater volcano proceeded to knock off four higher seeds before meeting another #7 seed—the crack in the Pine Island Glacier—in the final. The matchup was not even close, as El Hierro romped with 91 percent of the votes.
Perhaps sensing its impending victory, El Hierro began stirring in late March 2013. According to Erik Klemetti’s “Eruptions” volcanology blog, earthquake swarms beneath the island suggested that magma was on the move. Perhaps a volcano will soon be popping some lava champagne to celebrate the win.
Here is a walk through the opponents that El Hierro tossed aside on it’s month-long romp through earthly fame:
ROUND 1: Overnight View of Hurricane Sandy (#2 seed, events bracket)
ROUND 2: GOES View of Hurricane Sandy (#3 seed, events bracket)
ROUND 3: New Volcanic Island in the Red Sea (#5 seed, events bracket)
ROUND 4: Night Lights 2012 – Flat Map (#2 seed, Earth at night bracket)
ROUND 5: Flying Through a Crack in the Ice (#7 seed, data bracket)
How is your bracket looking now after Round 2 of Tournament Earth?
Cinderella Baja was finally taken out by the Black Marble, but two other high seeds remain: “Crack in the Ice” and “El Hierro.” If you want to dissect what went wrong (or right) with your picks last week, look below to see how the voting played out. In the data section, we saw the PIG Ice Crack blow out the North American heat wave image, which garnered just 22 percent of the vote. Voyager’s view of Earth also went down hard, earning just 37 percent of the vote against the solar flare.
Don’t forget to vote in the third round. Some key matchups to watch: #1 ranked City Lights of the United States is squaring off against #2 ranked Night Lights 2012. And in the true color section, the Black Marble faces the toughest competition it has seen yet from the solar flare image. Voting closes at 4pm Eastern Time on March 22.
The Black Marble (57%) vs. Baja California (43%)
Solar Flares (63 %) vs. Voyager Far from Home (37 %)
El Hierro (57%) vs. GOES Hurricane Sandy (43%)
Hurricane Isaac (35%) vs. New Volcanic Island (65%)
City Lights United States (66%) vs. Lights of London (34% )
City Lights Nile (47%) vs. Flat Map Night Lights (53%)
PIG Ice Crack (78%) vs. North American Heat Wave (22%)
Tree Map (48%) vs. Antarctic Sea Ice (52%)
