Overlay satellite images in Google Earth Pro, Eyes on the Earth

Overlay satellite images in Google Earth Pro, Eyes on the Earth

Overlay satellite images in Google Earth Pro, view a satellite map, Eyes on the Earth

Google recently unveiled a new feature, “Waterways from Earth,” on Google Earth. The program relies on NASA and NOAA images to show our dynamic planet’s waterways from space. Here’s more about the science and stories behind those images.

Google Earth Pro ways that are visible even from space

Remote Rupert Bay in northern Quebec is a place where the majesty and dynamism of fluid dynamics is on display. With several rivers pouring into this nook of James Bay, the collision of river and seawater combines with the churn of tides and the motion of currents to make swirls of colorful fluid that could impress even the most jaded of baristas.

Fluid dynamics on full display

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After islands sink, coral remains

Google Earth Pro ways that are visible even from space

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NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite captured this natural-color image of South Keeling Islands in 2009. Coral atolls which are largely composed of huge colonies of tiny animals such as cnidaria form around islands. After the islands sink, the coral remains, generally forming complete or partial rings. Only some parts of South Keeling Islands still stand above the water surface. In the north, the ocean overtops the coral.

Storm stirs sediment

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Category 3 Hurricane Gonzalo passed over Bermuda in 2014, stirring up sediment in the shallow bays and lagoons around the island and spreading a huge mass of sediment across the North Atlantic Ocean.

Stores of calcium carbonate sediments are moved from the shallows to the deep ocean by storms or density flows.

Storm-induced export of carbonate sediments into the deep ocean where they mostly dissolve is a significant process in the ocean’s carbonate and carbon cycles. It’s also important for the eventual neutralization of excess carbon dioxide entering the oceans because of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations from fossil fuel combustion.

The Gulf Stream in infrared

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The Gulf Stream is an important part of the global ocean conveyor belt that moves water. And heat across the North Atlantic from the equator toward the poles. Stretching from tropical Florida to the doorstep of Europe. This river of water carries a lot of heat, salt and history. It is one of the strongest currents on Earth, and one of the most studied.

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This image shows a small portion of the Gulf Stream about 300 miles (500 kilometers) east of Charleston. South Carolina, in infrared.

“Infrared bands measure how much energy is emitted by the surface of the Earth at particular wavelengths,” said:. Matthew Montanaro, a researcher on NASA’s Landsat team. “We can calculate the surface temperature from these measurements through math and some modeling. Essentially, the higher the infrared signal measured, the higher temperature on the surface.”

Waves beneath waves

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This photograph, taken in 2013 from the International Space Station (ISS). Shows the north coast of Trinidad and a series of subtle, interacting arcs in the southeastern Caribbean. These are known as “internal waves,” the surface manifestation of slow waves that move well beneath the surface. Internal waves produce enough of an effect on the sea surface to be seen from space, but only where they are enhanced due to sunglint, or reflection of sunlight, back toward the Space Station.

Land of lakes

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During the last Ice Age, nearly all of Canada was covered by massive ice sheets. Thousands of years later, the landscape of Nunavut Territory “our land” in the Inuktitut language – still shows the scars. Surfaces that were scoured by retreating ice and then flooded by Arctic seas are now dotted with millions of lakes, ponds and streams.

This area is frequently referred to as “Barren Grounds” because the soil remains frozen for much of the year, limiting the growth of trees and agriculture. However, looking beyond the “visible” spectrum reveals details from space. This false-color image from our Terra satellite shows vegetation in red, showing that during the summer thaw there is plenty of plant life in the form of lichens, mosses, shrubs and grasses.

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In summary:

After the islands sink, the coral remains, generally forming complete or partial rings. Only some parts of South Keeling Islands still stand above the water surface.

It's also important for the eventual neutralization of excess carbon dioxide entering the oceans because of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations from fossil fuel combustion.

Thousands of years later, the landscape of Nunavut Territory “our land” in the Inuktitut language still shows the scars. This area is frequently referred to as "Barren Grounds" because the soil remains frozen for much of the year, limiting the growth of trees and agriculture. However, looking beyond the “visible” spectrum reveals details from space. This false-color image from our Terra satellite shows vegetation in red, showing that during the summer thaw there is plenty of plant life in the form of lichens, mosses, shrubs and grasses. During the last Ice Age, nearly all of Canada was covered by massive ice sheets. Thousands of years later, the landscape of Nunavut Territory “our land” in the Inuktitut language – still shows the scars. Surfaces that were scoured by retreating ice and then flooded by Arctic seas are now dotted with millions of lakes, ponds and streams.

Lake Natron, Tanzania

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Revised September 21, 2023

This 4K visualization shows the of the aurora borealis of Earth

This 4K visualization shows the of the aurora borealis of Earth

Among the views of Earth afforded astronauts aboard the International Space Station, surely one of the most spectacular is of the aurora.

Which layers shows the presence of aurora borealis ?

The thermosphere’s temperature is greatly influenced by solar activity. Finally, the thermosphere is where the aurora ( Southern and Northern Lights ) occur. At high latitudes, charged particles from space clash with atoms and molecules in the thermosphere, causing them to be excited into higher energy levels.

Where on Earth can you see the aurora borealis ?

This 4K visualization shows

Large Image: 4928 px X 3280 px ( click on the image to enlarge )

This 4K visualization shows

The northern lights most commonly occur within the geographic area beneath the auroral oval. It encompasses latitudes between 60 and 75 degrees and takes in Iceland, northern parts of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Russia, Canada and Alaska as well as southern Greenland.

Can you see aurora borealis on Google Maps ?

To see more views of the Northern Lights, 

explore the Google Maps gallery:

This 4K visualization shows the of the aurora borealis of Earth.

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Revised September 23, 2023

Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML – Earth

Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML

Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands

The event left behind a changed island. Acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite, these images of Ostrov Matua show the island shortly after the eruption on June 30, 2009 (top), and two years before on May 26, 2007.

In these false-color images, vegetation appears red, water appears dark blue, and clouds, water vapor and ice all appear white.

Volcanic rock, including old lava flows and debris from the recent eruption, ranges from gray to dark brown.

The most striking difference between these two images is the gray coating on the northwestern half of the island in June 2009. While vegetation on the rest of the island appears lush, volcanic debris probably a mixture of pyroclastic flows and settled ash covered virtually all the vegetation on the northwestern end.

Large Image: 8192 X 4709 ( click on the image to enlarge )

Eruption of Sarychev Peak
Eruption of Sarychev Peak

A close look at the top image also reveals that the recent volcanic activity appears to have expanded the island’s coastline on the northwestern end.

Another difference between the images relates to snow cover. In the image from May 2007, snow spreads over much of the island, although the snow alternates with snow-free ground. The vegetation is pinkish-gray, suggesting the spring thaw is still underway. The complete lack of snow in 2009 may result from a combination of a difference in season and volcanic activity having melted:. Or covered any lingering snow.

Large Image: 8192 X 4709 ( click on the image to enlarge )

Eruption of Sarychev Peak
Eruption of Sarychev Peak

A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of:. Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain:. And it is located on the northwestern end of Matua Island. Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption occurred in 1989, with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows. Ash from the multi-day eruption has been detected 2,407 kilometers east-southeast and 926 kilometers west-northwest of the volcano: and commercial airline flights are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.

This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to volcanologists because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption.

The main column is one of a series of plumes that rose above Matua Island on June 12. The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance.**

In contrast, the smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising:. And cooling of the air mass above the ash column. This cloud, which meteorologists call:. Is probably a transient feature: the eruption plume is starting to punch through. The structure also indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time to disrupt the plume. (Satellite images acquired 2-3 days after the start of activity illustrate the effect of shearing winds:. On the spread of the ash plumes across the Pacific Ocean.)

By contrast, a cloud of denser:. Gray ash probably pyroclastic flow appears to be hugging the ground, descending from the volcano summit. The rising eruption plume casts a shadow to the northwest of the island (image top). Brown ash at a lower altitude of the atmosphere spreads out above the ground at image lower left. Low-level stratus clouds approach Matua Island from the east, wrapping around the lower slopes of the volcano. Only about 1.5 kilometers of the coastline of Matua Island (image lower center) are visible beneath the clouds and ash.

Editor’s note: Following the publication of this photograph:. The atmospheric and volcanic features it captured generated debate among meteorologists, geoscientists, and volcanologists who viewed it.

Post-publication, scientists have proposed and disagreed about—three possible explanations for the hole in the cloud deck above the volcano.

Large Image: 3000px X 3000px ( click on the image to enlarge )

Eruption of Sarychev Peak

One explanation is that the hole in the clouds has nothing to do with the eruption at all.

In places where islands are surrounded by oceans with cool surface temperatures:. It is common for a sheet of clouds to form and drift with the low-level winds. When the cloud layer encounters an island, the moist air closer to the surface is forced upward. Because the air above the marine layer is dry, the clouds evaporate, leaving a hole in the cloud deck. These openings, or wakes:. In the clouds can extend far downwind of the island, sometimes wrapping into swirling eddies called von Karman vortices.

Eruption of Sarychev Peak
Eruption of Sarychev Peak

The other two possibilities that scientists have offered appeared in the original caption.

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One is that the shockwave from the eruption shoved up the overlying atmosphere and disturbed the cloud deck:. Either making a hole or widening an existing opening. The final possibility is that as the plume rises:. Air flows down around the sides like water flowing off the back of a surfacing dolphin.

As air sinks, it tends to warm; clouds in the air evaporate.

Today we’ve started to roll out updated map layers in Google Earth Pro on desktop. With this change we are removing some outdated data in Earth Pro, as well as making improvements to keep maps layer data more consistent with other Google products like Maps and Earth web and mobile.

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The Erebus Glacier in Antarctica comes down from Mt-Erebus

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Revised September 15, 2023