Hello Old Friend
By Christine Shelton
Most of us have had the experience of meeting up with an old friend we’ve not seen for many years and being surprised by the changes in their appearance since last we saw them. Small lines have become deeper, wrinkles have cropped up where previously there were none, and there’s now more salt than pepper in their hair, or maybe the hair has gone altogether. Perhaps our friend is a bit more stout or svelte than we remember. Sometimes the changes are subtle; others more dramatic.
Thanks to technology, we have the opportunity to gain unique perspective on just these sorts of changes in one of our dearest old friends: the Earth. Google Timelapse is a collection of interactive videos that chronicle the changes that have taken place across our planet – forests, coastlines, glaciers, human habitat and more – since 1984. Some Earth changes are an outcome of the natural rhythms of the planet: others clearly reflect the impact of human activity on Earth’s ecosystems.
The project utilized compiled imagery acquired over the last 30 years from five different satellites, stitching images together to create time-lapse progressions of discrete landscapes and locations. The majority of the images were taken from Landsat, a joint project of the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) and NASA that has observed the Earth since the 1970s. The European Commission and European Space Agency’s Copernicus Earth observation program also contributed significantly to the image base.
Formerly only available to scientists and others with a ‘need to know’, Timelapse expands the availability of imagery and information to researchers, journalists – and the rest of us. It offers a tangible, easily digestible visual chronicle of the changes that have taken place across the globe in under 40 years, barely the blink of an eye in geologic time.
If you’re of a mind and have the time, take a few minutes to page through this largest and most magical of family albums to see how our old friend, Earth, has changed over the years. The images are awe-inspiring and thought- provoking. You can search, pan, zoom around or just let Earth’s story unfold before your eyes.
You can get started here.