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GeoEye satellite image
This half-meter resolution image shows icefields near Adelaide Island (on the west), lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. GeoEye tasked its GeoEye-1 satellite to collect this image on April 18.
For commercial imaging satellites, every day is Earth Day: In honor of today's eco-conscious holiday, GeoEye is releasing four recent snapshots of the planet, taken by the company's GeoEye-1 satellite as it orbited 423 miles (681 kilometers) above.
Earth Day isn't just a day for pretty pictures. It's also an occasion to reflect on the state of the planet. This picture of broken-up icefields near Adelaide Island, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, is a reminder that our planet's changing climate is a continuing cause of concern. The Antarctic Peninsula is considered one of the world's fastest-warming "hotspots," as documented by imagery from Europe's Envisat satellite.
"Ice shelves are sensitive to atmospheric warming and to changes in ocean currents and temperatures," Helmut Rott, a professor from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, explained in a statement issued earlier this month. "The northern Antarctic Peninsula has been subject to atmospheric warming of about 2.5 degrees Celsius [4.5 degrees Fahrenheit] over the last 50 years —a much stronger warming trend than on global average, causing retreat and disintegration of ice shelves."
Antarctica's situation serves as a "canary in the coal mine" for the effects of global climate change and the greenhouse-gas effect, to which industrial activity is an increasing contributor. But this isn't just an issue for penguins around the South Pole, or polar bears around the North Pole. Opinion surveys indicate that the public is increasingly seeing a connection between global changes in climate and the way weather works in their own region.
For more about the Antarctic Peninsula in particular, check out this report about the effect of climate change on penguin breeding patterns, this one about concerns for seal pups, this one about the encroachment of invasive species, and this video from 2007 about the continent's shrinking "cathedral of ice." Msnbc.com's Environment section has complete coverage of today's Earth Day goings-on.
Where in the Cosmos
GeoEye's picture of the Antarctic Peninsula was the subject of our latest "Where in the Cosmos" picture puzzle, posted to the Cosmic Log Facebook page. Stacy Thompson Layman was the Cosmic Log correspondent who first came up with the location shown in the picture (after a few hints), and to reward her late-night effort, I'm sending her a pair of 3-D glasses and a copy of "The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future," which makes for relevant reading on Earth Day. To get in on future "Where in the Cosmos" puzzle contests, be sure to click the "like" button for Cosmic Log. Here are the three other GeoEye-1 snapshots:
GeoEye satellite image
A curl of land at the tip of Australia's Towra Point Nature Reserve, located on the southern shores of Botany Bay, looks a bit like an elephant and its trunk. A boat speeds through the bay at upper left. Situated on an ancient river delta deposit, the Towra Point reserve is designated as a wetland of international importance because it is a breeding ground and home to many vulnerable, protected or endangered species with diverse habitats. There is also a Towra Point Aquatic Nature Reserve in the surrounding waterways. GeoEye tasked its GeoEye-1 satellite to collect this image on Feb. 19.
GeoEye satellite image
This GeoEye satellite image shows a portion of the D. Ering Wildlife Sanctuary off the Siang River, directly above the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, located about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) north of Tinsukia, Assam, India. The sanctuary is named after the late legendary social reformer Daying Ering. The sanctuary consists of a series of islands in the Siang River that are home to endangered animals and many migratory birds. GeoEye tasked its GeoEye-1 satellite to collect this image on March 17.
GeoEye satellite image
This half-meter resolution image shows the Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), located in Botswana in central southern Africa. The Okavango is the world's largest inland delta and formed where the Okavango River empties onto a swamp and into a basin in the Kalahari Desert. Most of the water is lost to evaporation and transpiration instead of draining into the sea. Botswana is one of the world's most ecologically sensitive areas. The Moremi Game Reserve spreads across the eastern side of the delta. GeoEye tasked its GeoEye-1 satellite to collect this image on April 12.
More views of Earth from space:
- Slideshow: Earth as Art 2010
- See the world from the space station
- Slideshow: How astronauts saw Earth
- Holiday calendar 2011: Earth from space
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Good
Why don't they call it "Global Warming Day", I guess it would be "Climate Change Day", or...what do they call it know? I guess Earth Day will work...
Happy birthday Vladimir Ilyich Lenin 22 April 1870 – 21 January 1924)
happy deathVladimir Ilyich Lenin, why did your mother did not abort you, why did you not die in the woumb, why the cord did not strangled you while at birth.... That is something I will never understand. the world would have been a better place without you and your other schizophrenic friend Karl Mark.
Oh mora, mora...why do you think people like Lenin came to existence...Do you think people who followed them had happy lives, were treated fairly by the rich and powerful? or do you think they followed them because they were exploited, hungry, without any prospects. Why do you think people migrated to the Americas...Do you think they did it because they were content where they lived, or perhaps because they did not see any real future for themselves... How about the Catholic church, why do you many Christians split from the church? could the corruption of the authorities be one of the reasons? Changes like those happen not because people are content and happy...they happen because of the injustice, exploitation, misery.... Could a good start for changes like those be the fact that 1% of people own 90% of wealth? perhaps, who knows, we'll find out soon enough.
Not just good, breathtaking!!!
Agree Wakiash.The Earth is beautiful.
Now if only humans would just stop @!$%#ing it up.
In order to determine that we are warming or losing ice at the poles. You must first figure out what the NORMAL planet temperature is and what the NORMAL amount of ice at the poles should be. If you do not know what the average is how can you determine ABOVE or BELOW average? Also without looking at changes in the Sun, or orbital changes of the planet and ONLY looking at green house gases, you are still not figuring in all the possibilities of what is going on.
There is no such thing as normal since there is constant change. Averages are the best you can hope for. You take the end of both extremes and go from there.
desselle0010,
Well, if you took the time to go to NOAA and read their data sets, going back several hundred thousand years, you can see what normal is. Humans have been keeping detailed records of climate patterns for over 300 years. The ice cores have been keeping that same data for over 100,000 years. The geologic record also keeps that data for millions of years. In addition the plants (flora), the animals (fauna) and insect records have also been keeping these records too.
You know what, all these records are showing the same data across the board. What it's all telling us is that WE are causing things to change and that things are not normal any longer.
Unless you think that the air, rocks, ice, animals, plants and insects are all in on the the giant scientific conspiracy.
FOOD MILES DON'T FEED CLIMATE CHANGE - MEAT DOES
That locally-produced, free-range, organic hamburger might not be as green as you think. An analysis of the environmental toll of food production concludes that transportation is a mere drop in the carbon bucket. Foods such as beef and dairy make a far deeper impression on a consumer's carbon footprint. "If you have a certain type of diet that’s indicative of the American average, you're not going to do that much for climate while eating locally...
Why would someone choose to be vegan? To slow global warming for one! Here are two uplifting videos to help everyone understand why so many people are making this life affirming choice: and
Well NASA has done a ton of studies and agreed with the warming of the Earth. They even agreed with the nutty Right wing Professor about the effect of the sun on the Earth but the data shows Man has a lot to do with warming. They look at the Earth from above everyday so if you have the tools to look and study the Earth maybe you would agreed with NASA facts.
Only the political appointees at N.A.S.A and N.O.A.A! Very recently numerous scientists and astronauts wrote to those political administrators and asked them not used N.A.S.A in that way.
We will never be able to stop climate change. It is a naturally occurring cycle. We can only hope to slow down the process by removing/reducing the man made contributions to the effect. If we are ever able to completely stop the process, then there would be the debate of altering the natural balance of the planet and potentially causing other unforeseen problems.
And what if turning off computers and eliminate excessive use of technology is the answer? Would we unplug? Would we be told?
We can stop climate change very easy. STOP MAKING BABIES!
Your children are no more precious than the ones that are starving in other countries.
But they get to clean up our mess.
How come Earth Day coincides with Stalin's birthday?
If we truly value the planet then we will get mankind's population here on Earth under control. It is basically a simple as that. Otherwise we should get ready for a global mass extinction event the likes of which this planet has rarely if ever seen. - RC
DO YOU WISH THAT WE SHOW UP ?????????????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHTytdRYRAs&feature=r
As long as people thing that making babies is their biological imperative, we're doomed. We are so numerous that when the 200,000 dies in the 2004 tsunami, it's was hardly noticed by the world. 1971 the iron dams broke in China killing 165,000 and nobody noticed. WWII killed 70 million. Life simply went on and the world population didn't even go down.
People, I'm here for the show. When I see breaking news, I want to see dead bodies all over the place. I'm the one cheering for the asteroid with our name on it. Ancient hatreds plus modern weapons - IT'S SHOW TIME!
Great photo links Alan ....
Thanks ....
These pix are stunningly beautiful! The idiot posters herein who insist on politicizing everything are not! For once, how about taking the photos at face value and being thankful that we have been given a planet to live on that is at once magnificent, beleaguered and a gift of supreme significance.
very nice ...pic's also looks like some spots need some resorts and parking lots just for smoker's
too much right's for non-smoker's
I love all the shades of green in these satellite images! It a great reminder of just how beautiful our planet is.
Thanks!
While it's true that global temperature change is a cycle that varies from millenium to millenium, I wonder at the effects of the industrial revolution on the current cycle. During past fluctuations of the warming and cooling trends, we didn't have the byproducts of large scale industries to factor in; rather, a global system built more around cottage industries was prevalent. There seems to be a lot of ambiguity in the data for what might happen in years to come, but my main worry is simple: If it turns out that the planet is going to be in trouble, by the time we realize it, it may be too late to act. A perfect conundrum indeed.