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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.
Shadegan Lagoon
30.456750°,48.929444° - Maxar
Dendritic drainage systems are seen around the Shadegan Lagoon by Musa Bay in Iran. The word ‘dendritic’ refers to the pools’ resemblance to the branches of a tree, and this pattern develops when streams move across relatively flat and uniform rocks, or over a surface that resists erosion.
Tiangang Lake Solar Fishery
33.223290°,117.984020° - Maxar
A solar panel “fish” is seen amid a large array on Tiangang Lake in Jiangsu Province, eastern China. This solar project, which covers nearly half of the lake’s perimeter, is a combination of a fishery and a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 500,000 kilowatts. China added a reported 30 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2019, and solar was the only form of energy production that did not decline during the nation’s coronavirus lockdown in January and February 2020.
Dakar, Senegal
14.692778°,-17.446667° - Planet
Dakar is the capital and largest city of Senegal, with more than 2.4 million people in its metropolitan area. Situated on the Cap-Vert Peninsula in the Atlantic Ocean, it is the westernmost city on the African mainland. Its coastal position at the crossroad of the major sea-lanes linking Europe and South America make Dakar a popular port of call for shipping vessels.
Siberia Wildfires
59.883333°,91.666667° - Julia Petrenko / Greenpeace
Since January, massive wildfires have blazed through Siberia, Russia, exacerbated by record-breaking heat waves in the region. An estimated 47 million acres (19 million hectares) of forests and fields have burned, which is an area larger than the nation of Greece. Wildfires in Siberia have become annual occurrences; however, the extent of this year's fires have heightened concerns among environmentalists about the accelerated melting of the Arctic. In the Krasnoyarsk region, where this image was captured, towns well north of the Arctic Circle have reported high temperatures above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Great Barrier Reef
-21.666530°,152.235135° - Planet
The Great Barrier Reef is Earth’s largest structure composed of living things, made of more than 2,900 individual reefs stretching roughly 1,400 miles (2,253 kilometers) offshore of Australia. Perhaps there is no better “canary in the coal mine” for nature’s reaction to a warming planet than the recent coral bleaching events at the reef. Ninety-three percent of the increase in global temperatures has been absorbed by the oceans, raising water temperatures and causing ocean acidification. As a reaction to the warmer waters, coral expel the algae living inside their tissues, which give the coral necessary nutrients that provide up to 90 percent of their energy. Corals can continue to live after bleaching, but often they begin to starve soon thereafter. In 2016, a bleaching event killed approximately 30 percent of the Great Barrier Reef ’s coral, and overall, the average time between bleaching events has halved between 1980 and 2016.
Karlskrona
56.160833°,15.586111° - Maxar
Karlskrona, Sweden, is a city of roughly 67,000 people spread over 30 islands in the Baltic Sea. Its city center on the island of Trossö -- seen at the bottom of this Overview -- is characterized by uniform, baroque-style buildings from the turn of the 18th century. With an ideal coastal location on the southeastern end of Sweden, Karlskrona hosts the nation's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the Swedish Coast Guard.
Calgary and the Canadian Rockies
51.050000°,-114.066667° - Planet
Calgary and the surrounding prairies of Alberta meet the rugged Canadian Rockies in western Canada. This 910-mile (1,460-km) stretch of mountains is overall more jagged than the American Rockies, with sharply pointed peaks and wide, U-shaped glacial valleys. As the third largest municipality in Canada, Calgary serves as a popular base for tourists and adventure-seekers wishing to venture into the four Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. The yellow in the fields surrounding the city are canola flowers which are harvested for the production of oil that’s used as a source of biodiesel and is also a key ingredient in many foods.
Citrus Trees
37.241139°,-7.294472° - Maxar
Citrus trees swirl on the hillsides of Huelva, Spain. The climate here is ideal for this growth with an average temperature of 17.8° C (64° F) and a relative humidity between 60% and 80%.
Chicago and Lake Michigan
41.881944°,-87.627778° - Planet
Chicago is the most populous city in the state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States, with upwards of 2.7 million people. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, the city’s gridded avenues stretch from the vibrant waters. For a sense of scale, O’Hare International Airport, which covers 11.9 square miles (30.8 square km), is visible in the bottom left.
Lake Turkana
2.566930°,36.495156° - Maxar
Rocky outcrops form along the southern shore of Lake Turkana in northwestern Kenya. With a surface area of 2,473 square miles (6,405 square km), it is the world’s largest permanent desert lake and also the world’s largest alkaline lake. However, Turkana is threatened by the controversial construction of the Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia, which blocks the Omo River from flowing into the lake.
Port of Manila
14.596667°,120.954444° - Maxar
The Port of Manila is the largest shipping facility in the Philippines, handling more than 75 million tonnes of cargo every year. Located at the mouth of the Pasig River, the area surrounding the port is home approximately 2 million people. In total, Manila is home to 22 million people in its urban area and is one of the world’s most densely populated cities with more than 41,000 people per square kilometer (107k per square mile).
Arizona Bush Fire
33.800000°,-111.300000° - Maxar
The Bush Fire is currently burning through large tracts of the Tonto National Forest in central Arizona. In these infrared Overviews captured on June 21, red areas represent living vegetation and grey areas show land scorched by the wildfire, which is already the fifth-largest in Arizona’s history. As the fire has gone relatively unnoticed in a jam-packed national news cycle, it has already burned more than 186,000 acres in the last 11 days. The Bush Fire is burning simultaneously with the Bighorn Fire — nearly 60,000 acres burned — and to the north by the Mangum Fire — nearly 70,000 acres burned. For a sense of scale, this Overview shows roughly 60 square miles (37k acres or 150 square km).
Rub' al Khali
20.000000°,50.000000° - Planet
Rub’ al Khali — or “The Empty Quarter” — is the largest sand desert in the world. It covers 251,000 square miles (650,000 sq. km) and includes parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. As seen here, the center of the desert contains a number of raised, hardened formations that were once the sites of shallow lakes, thousands of years ago.
Kauai
22.083333°,-159.500000° - Planet
Kauai is an island in the Central Pacific, part of the Hawaiian archipelago. It is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands — having formed about 5 million years ago — and is also the fourth largest, with an area of 562 square miles (1,456 square kilometers). Rainforests and mountain ranges cover more than 90% of Kauai, earning it the nickname “the Garden Isle.” It is home to about 72,000 people.
Venice
45.437500°,12.335833° - Maxar
Venice, Italy, is situated upon 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by bridges. With tide waters expected to rise to perilous levels in the coming decades, the city has constructed 78 giant steel gates across the three inlets through which water from the Adriatic could surge into Venice’s lagoon. The panels — which weigh 300 tons and are 92ft wide and 65ft high — are fixed to massive concrete bases dug into the seabed.
Great Blue Hole
17.315278°,-87.534444° - Maxar
The Great Blue Hole is a marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. Now a popular destination for divers, the site is located near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll about 43 miles (70 km) from Belize City. The hole — measuring 1,043 feet (318 m) across and 407 feet (124m) deep — was formed during several episodes of glaciation between 153,000 and 15,000 years ago, when sea levels were much lower.
Alice Springs Airport
-23.806944°,133.902222° - Nearmap
Three massive Singapore Airlines A380s (seen at top) are currently being stored with other aircraft at Alice Springs Airport, in Australia’s Northern Territory. As the world’s largest passenger airliner, these planes weigh 580 tons and typically carry 525 passengers (even though they are certified to carry as many as 853 people). In total, the airline has grounded 138 out of its 147 aircraft worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sheik Zayed Road
25.218611°,55.280000° - Bachir Moukarzel
Check out this mind-blowing drone shot by Bachir Moukarzel of Sheik Zayed Road in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during lockdown. Since March 15th, a strict night curfew has been imposed here from 11pm until 5am for everyone without special traveling permits. The road links the two largest cities of the United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi and Dubai - and expands to 14 lanes at its widest point.
Elche
38.266944°,-0.698333° - Maxar
Elche, Spain, is home to approximately 228,000 residents. The city, also known as Elx, also contains the Palmeral of Elche - an orchard of more than 200,000 palm trees that has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. The distinctive red roofs of its urban center are seen in this Overview.
São Paulo
-23.550000°,-46.633333° - Maxar
São Paulo is the most populous city in Brazil with approximately 12.1 million residents. In recent weeks, the city and its surrounding state have been among the hardest hit areas in Latin America by the coronavirus, reporting upwards of 123,000 cases and 8,275 deaths as of June 4. With a growing demand for emergency beds, hospitals in the city are nearing full capacity and could soon run out of space. Nationwide, Brazil has more than 584,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 32,000 deaths.
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