However, the ocean surface is nearly an equipotential, conforming on average to the geoid, whose shape is governed by Earth’s gravity field. As a first approximation, the spatial distribution of ocean mass change can be considered uniform, having the opposite sign of terrestrial water and ice mass storage changes. One of the promises of satellite gravity observations of Earth, realized through the GRACE mission, has been to observe Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) rise associated with ocean mass increase 2. The former is associated with terrestrial ice and water mass exchange with the oceans, and the latter includes volumetric variations associated largely with thermal expansion and to a lesser extent salinity change. Home to 50 million people and situated between two of China’s most essential rivers - the Yangtze and Jialing - Chongqing is one example of how China’s rapid industrialization is hollowing out the landscape.Variations of sea level reflect both ocean mass and steric changes 1. Read More: Is Climate Change Really a ‘National Security Threat?’ A crucial water source, the Dead Sea is seen as an important regional stabilizer. The Dead Sea, situated between Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank is shrinking at a rate of 3.3 feet each year. Bolivia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. You see the formation of the Toshka Lakes in the 1980s and 1990s, but the blue splotches of water quickly return to desert as the water dries upĭeforestation strips this previously lush land of its greenery and turns the landscape a dull brown. Read More: How Climate Change Has Managed to Transcend Politics in Miami Ultimately, this trend could cause global sea levels to dramatically rise. The movement of these the lakes combined with water’s ability to absorb light and heat (compared to ice’s reflection of light) causes cracks in the glacier and makes it melt faster. As the surface ice melts, supraglacial lakes are forming. But as the years go by, it’s clear to see that the glacier is becoming weaker. In the 1970s, it appeared uniform and white. This is the largest ice formation in the world. Here are some of the most jarring examples from this effort: The port city of Fukushima in Japan suddenly becomes a grim shadow of itself following the Tsunami and nuclear meltdown in 2011.Ĭhanges like these are abundant in the new feature and they tell the zoomed-out story of humanity.Ībove all, the images show the toll of climate change, a phenomenon mostly invisible on a day-to-day basis that becomes shockingly vivid on a broader time scale. The Panama Canal becomes wider, capable of fostering far more commerce. In China, rural regions become sprawling metropolises. Through the time lapse, changes are both gradual and abrupt. Read More: How a Tiny Alaska Town Is Leading the Way on Climate Change Other crucial images were taken from Sentinel-2A, a satellite controlled by the European Commission and European Space Agency's Copernicus Earth observation program. Most of the images come from Landsat, a satellite operated by NASA Earth and the US Geological Society since the 1970s. Google recently collected more than 5 million satellite images from 5 different satellites between 19. That’s the sense you get from watching a timelapse video of annual satellite images of Earth over the past several decades. It looks like as if a cancer is spreading across the planet, turning lush, vibrant life into something dry and diseased.
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