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SearchDaily Overview
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.
Black Thunder Coal Mine
43.645061°,-105.282673° - Planet
The Black Thunder Coal Mine in Gillette, Wyoming, USA, opened in 1977 and has grown to become one of the largest coal mines in the world. Massive dragline excavators — the largest of which holds 160 cubic yards (120 cubic meters) in a single bucket — strip away the earth’s surface to extract coal deposits below. Now covering roughly 200 square miles (518 square kilometers), Black Thunder provides the US with 8% of its coal supply.
Las Vegas, Nevada
36.175000°,-115.136389° - Planet
Las Vegas has experienced more than 4x population growth over the last thirty years — from 700,000 to upwards of 3 million people today. This drastic increase has contributed to Nevada becoming one of the fastest-growing states in America and can be observed here as the city's streets and buildings sprawl into the surrounding desert.
Glastonbury Festival
51.148500°,-2.714000° - Vantor
The Glastonbury Festival took place in Pilton, England this weekend. The annual, five-day music event (held for the first time since 2019) is attended by roughly 200,000 people. The population of Pilton on the other 360 days of the year is 998.
San Diego-Tijuana
32.538862°,-117.058973° - Planet
San Diego-Tijuana has grown in recent decades to become the largest trans-border metropolitan area between the United States and Mexico. The population of the region, about 3 million in the mid-1980s, is now more than 5.3 million. Ports of entry have also expanded, allowing more than 50 million people to cross the border every year — the busiest land-border crossing in the world.
Lake Powell
36.936111°,-111.484167° - Planet
Water levels at Lake Powell reservoir have ebbed and flowed in the last few decades, but have declined overall. Located on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, it is the second largest artificial reservoir in the United States, able to hold 55 times as much water as Sydney Harbor in Australia. In April 2022, Lake Powell’s water level was at 3,522.24 feet (1,073.58 m) in elevation — just 22.88% of capacity and the lowest level since it was filled in 1963. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to watch a Timelapse video of the lake over the years.
Tagebau Hambach Mine
50.907783°,6.523415° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Tagebau Hambach is a surface coal mine in North Rhine–Westphalia, Germany. The mine opened in 1978 and currently covers 44 square kilometers (17 square miles). Here, bucket-wheel excavators – considered to be the largest land machines in the world at 315 feet (96 meters) tall and 730 feet (223 meters) long – continuously scoop materials from the surface in order to extract coal and will eventually expand the facility to cover 85 square kilometers (33 square miles).
Moab Potash Evaporation Ponds
38.485583°,-109.684611° - Planet
Vibrant evaporation ponds are seen at a potash mine in Moab, Utah. The facility produces muriate of potash, a potassium‐containing salt that is a major component in fertilizers. The salt is pumped to the surface from underground brines and dried in these massive solar ponds. As the water evaporates over a span of 300 days, the salts crystallize out. The variation of color occurs because the water is dyed a deep blue (darker water absorbs more sunlight and heat, thereby reducing the amount of time it takes for the water to evaporate) and over time, the blue fades as the water evaporates. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to watch a Timelapse of the ponds changing color.
Brazil Deforestation
-10.030010°,-63.049470° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Deforestation in the Brazilian state of Rondônia has occurred on a devastating scale over the last 40 years. In 1978, just 4,200 square kilometers (1,620 square miles) of its rainforest had been cleared, but by 2003 more than 67,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles) was cut down.
Doha
25.286667°,51.533333° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Doha became the capital city of Qatar in 1971, and shortly thereafter, began growing at rapid speed. The city's population exploded from 90,000 in the 1970’s to more than 2.3 million today. Doha’s cityscape has also expanded drastically, sprawling outward into the desert and the Persian Gulf atop reclaimed land.
Osaka and Kobe
34.500000°,135.300000° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Osaka and Kobe, Japan expand into Osaka Bay as land reclamation projects are completed over recent decades. Approximately 0.5% of Japan’s total area is estimated to be reclaimed land, which has been created for facilities like the 10.5 square kilometer (4 square mile) Kansai Airport that appears at left. Osaka is the 10th largest urban area in the world with more than 19 million inhabitants.
Saudi Arabia Irrigation
30.019630°,38.437350° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Saudi Arabia has worked for nearly 30 years to irrigate the Syrian Desert, where it grows wheat and other crops. To do so, it has drilled through the desert floor and drawn water from underground aquifers, which irrigates fields through center-pivot irrigation — creating the green circles seen here. This operation, in the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin, covers roughly 7,800 square kilometers (3,000 square miles) and each circular field is about one kilometer (0.62 miles) across.
Antarctic Sea Ice Timelapse
-76.865660°,-153.302680° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Antarctic sea ice has gradually diminished over the last few decades, as surrounding oceans have grown warmer and northward winds stronger. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to watch a Timelapse video of melting in a ~18,000 square kilometer (7,800 square mile) area near the Ross Sea. In the last decade, Antarctica lost an estimated 252 billion tons (229 billion metric tons) of ice per year.
Cancún, Mexico
21.160556°,-86.847500° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Cancún, Mexico, has grown significantly in the last few decades, quickly becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Caribbean Sea. The resort city was developed on the site of a coconut plantation with three residents in the 1970s and by 2019 was able to accommodate more than 6 million tourists. Its population and urban footprint has also boomed; in the mid-1980s the Cancún metro area was home to about 70,000 people, and today it has nearly 1 million inhabitants. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to see a Timelapse video of Cancún growing.
Google Bay View Campus
37.421849°,-122.066877° - Nearmap
Construction of Google’s Bay View campus in Mountain View, California began in 2017 and the facility just opened to employees in May 2022. The all-electric structure is net water positive, powered by a dragonscale solar-skin exterior, and boasts the largest geothermal installation in North America. Located on 42-acres, Bay View can accommodate 4,000 employees.
Australia Bushfires
-29.833700°,123.928930° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Australian bushfires are a regular occurrence that have shaped the landscape of the continent over millions of years. However, because the most destructive fires are usually preceded by higher temperatures, global warming has increased — and is predicted to continue increasing — the frequency of blazes. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to see a Timelapse of ~3200 square miles of Western Australian with scorched areas gradually growing over the last few decades.
Mariupol Timelapse
47.095833°,37.549444° - Vantor
Mariupol, Ukraine was destroyed between February and May 2022 during the Russian invasion of the country. Some estimates say at least 95% of the city, now under Russian control, has been leveled. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to watch a Timelapse video of the city, which focuses on the Mauripol Theater destroyed by Russian bombardments on March 16. Tens of thousands of civilians have been evacuated or killed, leaving Mariupol with less than 100,000 of its 430,000 residents.
Kuala Lumpur Growth
3.147778°,101.695278° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has grown sixfold since the 1980s, it’s population exploding from 1.3 million in 1984 to more than 8 million today. As a result, the metropolis continues to sprawl outward from the Klang River and now covers more than 1,000 square miles (2,800 square km). Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to see a Timelapse of the city’s growth.
Apple Park
37.334185°,-122.009930° - Nearmap
Apple Park in Cupertino, California is the 2.8 million-square-foot headquarters of Apple. Construction of the building took roughly four years to complete, from 2013 to 2017. The “Spaceship” is one of the world’s most environmentally friendly offices, with 100% of its power coming from renewable sources, including the the world’s largest rooftop solar installation. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to watch a Timelapse of Apple Park being built.
Las Vegas and Lake Mead
36.175000°,-115.136389° - NASA / Google Timelapse
As the city of Las Vegas grows, Lake Mead, its water supply, shrinks. In the mid-1980s, the Vegas metropolitan area was home to 438,000 people, and today that population has ballooned to upwards of 2.2 million. Consequently, the lake’s water level has dropped from 1,225 feet in July 1983 to 1,059 feet in May 2022 — the lowest since it first began to fill in 1935. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to see a video of the city growing and lake shrinking.
Santa Cruz Deforestation
-17.546054°,-62.105244° - NASA / Google Timelapse
Here’s 2000 square kilometers (800 sq. miles) of deforestation in the Santa Cruz region of Bolivia. Deforestation in the country has primarily been driven by the expansion of mechanized agriculture, as Bolivia seeks to produce more food for its growing population. From 2002 to 2021, the country lost a total of 66,000 square kilometers (25,400 square miles) of tree cover — that’s an area 40 times the size of London. Visit our Instagram @dailyoverview to watch a Timelapse of the deforestation.
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