The Google logo is displayed outside the company’s New York, USA, offices, June 4, 2019. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid / File Photo
Google Earth added a timelapse feature to the popular platform on Thursday, providing a glimpse of how climate change, urbanization and deforestation have changed the planet over the past four decades.
Created with 24 million satellite images, along with 800 curated videos and interactive guides, the feature allows users to see a time-lapse of any place on the planet, using input from NASA, the US’s Landsat program. Geological Survey and the European Union’s Copernicus Program.
Climate change is causing more frequent and severe floods, droughts, storms and heat waves as the Earth’s average temperature soars to new records.
Google Earth’s timelapse tool shows the change in coastlines, expansive expansion of cityscapes and farmlands, as well as simultaneous recession of glaciers, forests and rivers.
A video shows the rapid transition from forests near Bolivia to villages and farms, a major cause of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest; while another shows the recession of Alaska’s Columbia glacier by 20 kilometers as a result of global warming.
Scientists have warned that an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions could lead to extreme weather events and increased risks of natural disasters.
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