The Google logo will be displayed outside the company offices in New York, USA on June 4, 2019. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid / File Photo
Google Earth on Thursday added a timelapse feature to the popular platform, giving a glimpse into how climate change, urbanization and deforestation have changed the planet over the past four decades.
The feature was created with 24 million satellite images, along with 800 composite videos and interactive guides, enabling users to view a lapse of time from anywhere on the planet, using input from NASA, the Landsat program of the U.S. Geological Survey and the European Union’s Copernicus program.
Climate change is causing frequent and severe floods, droughts, storms and heat waves as world average temperatures rise to new records.
Google Earth’s timelapse tool shows the change in coastlines, expansive expansion of urban landscapes and agricultural land, as well as the simultaneous recession of glaciers, forests and rivers.
One video shows the rapid transition from forests near Bolivia to towns and farms, a major cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest; while another shows the recession of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska by 20 kilometers due to global warming.
Scientists have warned that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions worldwide could lead to extreme weather conditions and greater risks due to natural disasters.
Our standards: the principles of the Thomson Reuters Trust.