16 Satellite Images Releases By Google Earth That Show Dramatic Change People Have Done To The World

The melting glaciers, the burning forests, extreme weather, and rising sea level. For most people who ignore environmental news, not even them are strangers to these events. Even so, as we live among the hustle bustles of crowded city life, we don't often experience the impact directly. It is not entirely bad because we choose how we live, whether that's to be dedicated wholeheartedly to the revival of greenery, nature photographers, or journalists that report on these. Even the least related career choices may have, in some way, connected to the environment.

Google Earth was initially a forgotten app by many, but it was "relaunched" with a new update overhaul. Now it features more than 24 million satellite images of Earth to create a timelapse. They are not just impressive - watching how the surface of our only home in the universe changes may actually stir something up inside us—climate change, infrastructure growth, impacts of disasters, etc. History isn't just being written - now we can watch them unfold within the timelapse of Google Earth.

Source: Google via YouTube

#1 Atsimo-Andrefana, Madagascar

#2 Pearl River Delta, China

#3 Singapore

The Google Earth timelapse is actually a feature that exists for a few years already. But before the update on April 15, it only allows users to watch timelapse in 2D images. In 2017, they added a huge update which is the millions of satellite images. Now you can watch the timelapse happen in 3D! Everything can be dated back to 1984, about 37 years ago.

#4 Columbia Glacier, Alaska, USA

#5 Dubai, UAE

#6 Enright, Oregon, USA

#7 Chatham, Massachusetts

#8 Aral Sea, Kazakhstan

Google Earth was a collaboration between Google, NASA Earth, EU Commission, European Space Agency, and USGS. Google shared the update on Twitter, "Timelapse in Google Earth provides a better understanding of Earth’s dynamic changes."

It is meant to show "the visual evidence of dynamic change" that were the products of climate change and human behavior. Google hoped that this publicly available service could be used to inspire people.

#9 Shanghai, China

#10 Sara, Bolivia

#11 Mato Grosso, Brazil

#12 Newfoundland And Labrador, Canada

#13 Las Vegas, USA

#14 Nuflo De Chavez, Bolivia

"Our planet has seen rapid environmental change in the past half-century — more than any other point in human history," Rebecca Moore, the Director of Google Earth, Earth Engine & Outreach wrote in her blog. "For other people, the effects of climate change feel abstract and far away, like melting ice caps and receding glaciers."

"I myself was among the thousands of Californians evacuated from their homes during the state’s wildfires last year," she shared.

But destruction was not the core purpose of the timelapse feature. It has also allowed people to watch "mesmerizingly beautiful natural phenomena that unfold over decades" before them.