Research / Observations

Observations

Places we have looked at from orbit and from the air, with the source, the date, and the method for every image. All imagery is from public sources, processed by us; nothing is simulated or retouched.

6 observations · See them on a map

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Arctic sea-ice minimum. Arctic sea ice usually reaches its smallest extent of the year in mid-September.

  1. Sentinel-1

    Ilulissat Icefjord and Disko Bay, Greenland, August 2024 to October 2025

    Thirty-eight Sentinel-1 passes at a twelve-day interval record the icefjord's discharge, the freeze and break-up of Disko Bay, and the seasonal advance and retreat of sea ice over fifteen months.

Archive

All observations, newest first

  1. Sentinel-2

    Gemini Solar, Clark County, Nevada, April 2020 and May 2024

    The same 20 by 11 km frame in 2020 and 2024 records the construction of a 690-megawatt solar plant on open desert northeast of Las Vegas.

  2. Sentinel-1

    Ilulissat Icefjord and Disko Bay, Greenland, August 2024 to October 2025

    Thirty-eight Sentinel-1 passes at a twelve-day interval record the icefjord's discharge, the freeze and break-up of Disko Bay, and the seasonal advance and retreat of sea ice over fifteen months.

  3. Sentinel-2

    Lake Poopó, Bolivia, August 2017 and August 2025

    Late dry-season views of the basin in 2017 and 2025 show the extent of exposed salt and playa relative to open water, and the partial recovery of the lake over eight years.

  4. Sentinel-2

    Okavango Delta, Botswana, April and September 2024

    Views from April and September 2024 record the delta before and after the annual flood pulse from the Angolan highlands spread through its channels.

  5. NAIP

    Beverly Drive-In, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 2012 and 2023

    The National Register outline for this listed drive-in lies about 280 meters north of the theater's footprint in aerial imagery. The theater burned in 2010 and an apartment complex now occupies the site, while the listing remains active.

  6. Sentinel-1

    Diomede Islands, Bering Strait, November 2024 and March 2025

    Two radar acquisitions of the same 48 by 27 km window, 108 days apart, record the strait's transition from open water in November to fractured pack ice in March.

Every observation carries its scene identifiers and rights. A machine-readable index is at /catalog/observations.geojson; new observations appear in the Atom feed (for feed readers; it shows as plain XML in a browser).