The 2026/2027 'Super' El Nino

Fact: the current SSTs in the eastern tropical Pacific are about 3 deg C higher than normal and that's more than 1 deg C warmer than the powerful 1997 & 2015 El Ninos. So, what can we expect?

1. Droughts in southern Africa (e.g. Malawi, South Africa, etc.).
2. Dry conditions & wild fires in Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.
3. Dry conditions & wild fires in the Amazon region.
4. El Nino years, and especially the year after an El Nino year, are generally hotter on a global scale - so expect 2027 to be anothe record year.

More here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02939-x

This sea surface elevation comparison (1997 vs 2026 El Nino) from NASA is great: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/el-nino-then-and-now/

Relief

Relief is simple & cool: just the topography as you zoom & pan around the world. Share as link or export as image & video. One gripe: the color ramp is not that great - something more 'natural' for elevtion would be better I think.

Flow Maps

Flow Maps are cool, but really tricky to actually design & make look good. Here are two good resources:

• Flow Maps (by Esri) shows some hacks in ArcGIS Pro & ArcGIS Online that can be used to make flow maps.
• Flow Mapping (by PennState) is a great overview & introduction.

3D Print Your World

Great compilation of tools by Maps Mania: 3D Print Your World

• Topography Explorer
• DEM Net Elevation API
• Tiel Exporter

Backcountry Ski Routes in the Presidential Range of New Hampshire

Well-done in CalTopo: https://caltopo.com/m/4U821FC

This would be great as a Story Map with linked / embedded pics & videos. More beta in his video:

SAR 'Images' in ArcGIS Pro

Good stuff here in-case you need to process SAR imagery in ArcGIS Pro: Getting to Know the SAR Analysis Toolset.

How Smooth Is The Earth, Really?

How Smooth Is The Earth, Really? is a cool 3D animation of Earth's topograhy (both to-scale & with vertical exaggeration). This would be great as two amimated GIFs to show side-by-side.

I actually like the chart even more - showing the layers of the Earth to-scale & showing how insignifcant Earth's topography is relative to the size of the Earth overall.

NASA Earthdata

NASA Earthdata appears to be the (new) data portal for accessing all kinds of NASA data.

• NASA Worldview offers full-resolution, global satellite imagery from over 1000 data products from NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EO (LANCE) and other NASA data providers.
• NASA Earthdata Search gives access to everything.

Need an old topographic map?

Try the historical topo map explorer from Esri @ https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/topomapexplorer/#maps=&loc=-98.54,40.15&LoD=4.00

Boston 3D!

Very cool: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webscene/viewer.html?webscene=eda8bd359b1748a2af56a0a49325b518

Historical Topo Map Explorer (beta)

The new Historical Topo Map Explorer (beta) is great!

Open Topography

Great option for topographic data: Open Topography

The White Mountains Maps

Great design by Andy Woodruff - a new map of the White Mountains in the style of the classic US National Park maps: White Mountains "National Park" Map.

ICESat-2 Topography across the Super Bowl

That's just cool: mapping the topography across the Super Bowl LVII stadium with ICESat-2: A Super View of Arizona.

Global Watersheds

Global Watersheds is great: delineate watersheds and downstream traces - downloadable in various geospatial formats & much faster than the corresponding Esri geoprocessing tools.

River Runner

River Runner is fun - follow a drop of water as it travels downstream from whereever it falls.

• USA Version
• Global Version

LiDAR Data Portal for Indiana

In case you need LiDAR data for Indiana: https://lidar.digitalforestry.org/

Need Contours?

Try Axis Map: https://contours.axismaps.com/#13/42.6111/-72.5949 (here centered around Greenfield, MA). A few comments:

• You need to set an appropriate contour interval for your overall topography.
• I can 'see' the label or roads - not sure what's happening here.
• Export as vector, image, or GeoJSON - great!

MA Lidar Data

Here are some ways to get Lidar data for MA:

• 1 m Lidar DEM and Shaded Relief
• MassGIS Data: Lidar Terrain Data

Fun & useful: The Massachusetts Elevation Finder

EarthDEM

This sounds great: a DEM with 2 m resolution for non-polar regions: EarthDEM