One regular dose of Earth from above
New Overviews are posted regularly on Instagram — follow @dailyoverview to see them as soon as they go up.
45.308600°,36.506100° - Maxar
An explosion this morning destroyed sections of the Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to Russia. The 13-mile (21-kilometer) structure is the only bridge to cross the strait and has served as an important supply route for Russian troops fighting in southern Ukraine. This Overview shows collapsed sections of road and flames coming from a train on the bridge’s railroad section.
26.447413°,-81.936657° - Nearmap
Mobile homes in Fort Myers Beach, Florida were picked up and carried away by the storm surge of Hurricane Ian. The floodwaters, which likely exceeded 6 feet (1.8 meters) in this area, were accompanied by damaging wind gusts of up to 155 mph (250 km/h). Incredibly, some residents rode out the storm in their mobile homes and survived.
48.132168°,11.550149° - Maxar
Today is the final day of Oktoberfest, an annual, two-week festival held in Munich, Germany. More than 6 million people attended this year’s festival, which returned after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. The festival comes to life in the Theresienwiese, Munich’s largest fairground at 4.5 million square feet (420,000 square meters).
26.455090°,-81.950647° - Greg Lovett, The Palm Beach Post / USA Today Network
A large pile of boats and other wreckage near Fort Myers Beach, Florida, sits mangled in the wake of Hurricane Ian. The entire Fort Myers metropolitan area, home to upwards of 750,000, suffered catastrophic damage in the storm, which is the fifth-strongest to ever hit the contiguous United States. Early estimates place the total cost of damages throughout Florida at $40 billion.
42.783321°,44.633499° - Maxar
Long lines and traffic jams have formed at Russian ports of exit as thousands flee the country to avoid being drafted into the war in Ukraine. This Overview shows a line of traffic near Russia’s border with Georgia, which stretched for nearly 10 miles (16 kilometers). The exodus began several days ago, when Russian President Putin announced a mobilization of 300,000 reservists into war.
33.731097°,-118.248826° - Nearmap
Cargo ships dock at one of the many shipping container terminals in the Port of Los Angeles, California. Also known as “America's Port,” it has been the busiest container port in the United States for at least 20 consecutive years, handling 9.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo in 2020. The port handles 20% of all incoming cargo for the USA.
51.045833°,-114.057500° - Planet
Calgary is the third-largest city in Canada and largest in the province of Alberta, with about 1.4 million inhabitants. The city is located at the transition of the Canadian Rockies foothills and the Canadian Prairies, serving as a popular base for adventure-seekers venturing into the four Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. Calgary’s city center sits at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers.
35.699444°,51.337778° - Maxar
Thousands of activists have gathered in Tehran, Iran recently to protest the death of a young woman detained by the country’s “morality police.” The 22-year-old woman died last week after being arrested for not complying with Iran’s strict rules on head coverings for women. This Overview shows Azadi Tower in Tehran, which became a symbol of freedom during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
51.483333°,-0.604167° - Maxar
Today, Queen Elizabeth II was buried at Windsor Castle, in the English county of Berkshire. She was interred at St. George’s Chapel alongside her husband, Prince Philip, following a state funeral at Westminster Abbey and a procession across central London. Windsor was her majesty’s primary residence as a princess during World War II, her preferred weekend destination throughout her reign, and a refuge during the pandemic.
-23.365360°,119.675400° - Maxar
The Mount Whaleback Iron Ore Mine is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It measures nearly 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) wide and more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) long. Nearly all of mined iron ore is used to make steel, and it is thus a major component in the construction of buildings, automobiles, and appliances such as refrigerators.
37.755000°,14.995000° - Planet
Smoke rises from Mount Etna, an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy. At 11,014 feet (3,357 meters), it is one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe. Over a six-month period in 2021, Etna erupted so much volcanic material that its height increased by approximately 100 ft (30 m).
36.826290°,95.273682° - Google Timelapse
Numerous saltwater evaporation ponds have been built in China’s Qarhan Playa since the early 1990s. Located in Qinghai Province, Qarhan was once a single unitary lake and is now an expansive salt flat covering 2,261 square miles (5,856 square km). It is heavily exploited for its valuable reserves of salt, potash, lithium, iodine and other minerals.
29.979234°,31.134201° - Maxar
The Great Pyramids of Giza are located on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Dating back to 2580 BC, the Great Pyramid, the largest structure at the site, is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one to remain largely intact. With an estimated 2.3 million stone blocks weighing 2 to 30 tons each, the 481-foot-tall (146-meter) pyramid was the tallest structure in the world for more than 3,800 years.
51.233333°,6.783333° - Planet
Hot, dry conditions caused water levels on the Rhine River — Western Europe’s most important waterway — to reach a record low this summer. Many points along the river dried to less than half of normal depths, too shallow for ships carrying important cargo to pass. This Overview shows low water levels of the Rhine flowing through Düsseldorf, Germany, in August 2022.
30.270565°,-97.738784° - Nearmap
Austin is the capital and fourth-most populous city of Texas, with just under one million inhabitants. It has been one of the fastest growing cities in the USA since 2010 and is experiencing a skyscraper boom, with recent construction on new office, hotel and residential buildings. This Overview focuses on Downtown Austin, along the Colorado River, with the Texas State Capitol Building at center.
29.824510°,70.787425° - Planet
Severe floods have inundated Pakistan this summer, caused by heavier than usual monsoon rains and melting glaciers. The Indus River, shown here, has overrun its banks in several provinces, turning into a lake 62 miles (100 km) wide at some points. Experts say around one-third of the country is under water and that the flooding, linked to climate change, is the worst in Pakistan’s history.
51.501716°,-0.141411° - Wikipedia Commons by SAC Matthew 'Gerry' Gerrard RAF/ © MoD Crown Copyright 2016
This Overview shows a crowd at Buckingham Palace in London, England during Queen Elizabeth II’s official 90th birthday celebrations in 2016. The Queen passed away yesterday, September 8th, at the age of 96 after more than 70 years on the throne. Her reign is the longest of any British monarch and the longest recorded of any female of state in history.
19.747500°,96.115000° - Google Timelapse
Naypyidaw, the capital city of Myanmar, was constructed on undeveloped land between 2002 and 2012. It became the capital in 2006, replacing Yangon as a more centrally located and less congested location for government offices. The city is divided into a number of zones, including military, diplomatic, ministry, hotel and residential, with about 924,000 inhabitants.
37.504215°,-122.036887° - Maxar
Salt ponds are seen on San Francisco Bay in northern California, USA. Here water is channelled into large ponds and exits through natural evaporation. The salt that remains can then be collected. The massive ponds get their vibrant reddish colors from the algae that thrive in the extremely salty water. Approximately 80% of this wetlands area – approximately 16,500 acres – has been developed for salt mining.
-19.733361°,121.245694° - Google Timelapse
Burn scars have, in recent years, begun covering more of the landscape around Eighty Mile Beach in Western Australia. This area, located within the Great Sandy Desert, is hot, dry and subject to frequent thunder and lightning storms. This, combined with global warming, has caused wildfires to increase in both frequency and intensity.