As changed our planet from 1984 to today? To find out there is a tools of Google, Google Earth Timelapsewhich provides satellite images and aerial photographs of the Earth’s surface, showing year by year (from 1984 to 2022) the evolution of various areas of the Earth. The tool has existed since 2013 (at the time it provided images updated until 2012), is periodically enriched with new images and is part of Earth Engine, a platform for scientific analyzes and visualizations of geospatial datasets aimed at academics, non-profit associations, companies and governments.
What changes from the classic Google Earth? Google explains that if that “allows you to travel, explore and learn about the world by interacting with a virtual globe” and “view satellite images, maps, reliefs, buildings in 3D”, EarthEngine it is instead a tool for the analysis of geospatial information, through which it is possible to analyze “forest and water cover, changes in land use or evaluate the health of agricultural fields”.
Among the most evident phenomena that can be noticed among the available timelapses, there are in particular the modifications of the Planet due to climate change, for example the progressive retreat of the surface of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska. The comparison, from year to year, is impressive, as can be seen in the image below, where we see the glacier in 1984 and then in 2022. Even the impact of fires in the region of Yellabinnain South Australia, is shocking, as is the progressive disappearance of the Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Then there they are the direct effects of human activities: the change in the territory caused by extractive activities in the Alberta area, in Canada and in the Chuquicamata area, in Chile, or the strong deforestation of the Rondonia region, in Brazil, and the Ñuflo de Chávez, in Bolivia.
Finally, the engineering works seen in time-lapse are also fascinating, such as the construction of Berlin Brandenburg Airportwhich came into operation on 31 October 2020 and is now the only airport in the German capital (previously it flew to Berlin-Tegel). In this areathe construction expansion along the coast of Dubai over the course of about forty years it represents perhaps the most impressive artificial transformation that can be seen.
To explore it, follow these steps:
- open Google Earth in your web browser and click on “Timelapse“, or go directly to the Google Earth Timelapse page;
- enter the location you are interested in in the search bar;
- press play – and select la speed you want to see the timelapse of.
