
Google Earth Timelapse - sabalaba
https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/
======
trimbo
Trivia: On the "Construction of the Bay Bridge" one, pan down to the Southeast
a little to the Alameda Naval Air Station. In 2001 you can see the
construction of the freeway set[1] used for The Matrix Reloaded.

Direct link to view:
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=37.79184,-122.334...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=37.79184,-122.33478,12.026,latLng&t=1.73&ps=50&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

[1] -
[http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/TheMatrixReloaded/Freewa...](http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/TheMatrixReloaded/FreewayChase/)

~~~
ManuelKiessling
No idea what you are talking about. Sadly, there weren’t any follow up movies
to The Matrix.

~~~
me_me_me
The second one was alright. There was a lot of interesting lore in it.

~~~
WCityMike
The person you're replying to is making a joke. The general meta-structure of
said joke is that if something is considered particularly bad, its existence
is denied, i.e., "1: SCRUBS only had eight seasons. 2: But what about that one
where they were teach-- 1: SCRUBS ONLY HAD EIGHT SEASONS." Etc.

~~~
edjrage
I think the person you're replying to got the joke, and responded to the
implied claim that the sequels were bad.

~~~
lurquer
There'is no person to whom he is replying.

------
sabalaba
Some interesting links:

Beijing and Shenzhen's rapid urbanization:
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=39.90419,116.4073...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=39.90419,116.40739,9.999,latLng&t=3.3&ps=50&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

Deforestation in Brazil:
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=-9.27665,-58.5151...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=-9.27665,-58.51513,5.098,latLng&t=3.42&ps=50&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

~~~
floatrock
Vegas is a really good one in the US since you can see it gobbling up the
desert:
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=36.16451,-115.217...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=36.16451,-115.21782,9.737,latLng&t=1.52&ps=50&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

~~~
vnglst
And also that big lake next to it rapidly disappearing. Isn’t that something
to worry about?

~~~
X6S1x6Okd1st
Long term probably, but likely more because of decreased access to snow melt &
increased evaporation rather than increased demand.

> Changing rainfall patterns, climate variability, high levels of evaporation,
> reduced snow melt runoff, and current water use patterns are putting
> pressure on water management resources at Lake Mead as the population
> relying on it for water, and the Hoover Dam for electricity, continues to
> increase. To lower the minimum lake level necessary to generate electricity
> from 1,050 feet (320 m) to 950 feet (290 m), Hoover Dam was retrofitted with
> wide-head turbines, designed to work efficiently with less flow in 2015 and
> 2016.[40] If water levels continue to drop, Hoover Dam would cease
> generating electricity when the water level falls below 950 feet (290 m) and
> the lake would stabilize at a level of 895 feet (273 m) when the water
> reaches the lowest water outlet of the dam.[41] In order to ensure that the
> city of Las Vegas will continue to be able to draw its drinking water from
> Lake Mead, nearly $1.5 billion was spent on building a new water intake
> tunnel in the middle of the lake at the elevation of 860 feet (260
> m).[42][43] The 3-mile (4.8 km) tunnel took seven years to build under the
> lake and was put into operation in late 2015.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mead#Drought_and_water_us...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Mead#Drought_and_water_usage_issues)

Up stream releases 10,150,000 ML per year, Vegas recently upgraded the
capacity to consume up to 1,244,000 ML per year.

[https://www.waterworld.com/drinking-
water/distribution/artic...](https://www.waterworld.com/drinking-
water/distribution/article/14068676/las-vegas-isnt-gambling-with-water-supply)

As per usual the capacity of natural systems is much higher than the first
order effects from people.

It's only when we look at second and third order effects or cumulative effects
that we start to see real anthropocentric effects

------
ncr100
Good lord. The "Deforestation" presentation is horrifying.

What an effective use of technology, thank you EarthEngine team.

~~~
uniqueid
Thanks to the EarthEngine team, but _only_ that team. Youtube is an Alphabet
(Google) company.

Youtube contributed to the rise of authoritarians like Trump and Bolsonaro who
scoff at environmentalists.

Youtube merrily signal-boosted anti-environmentalist conspiracy theories.

What a fantastic world we _could_ have, through new technology. What a mess we
_actually_ have, partly because of leadership failures at Google and the half-
dozen usual suspects.

~~~
fastball
No, the problem is that we forgot to teach (or in many cases – deliberately
did not teach) people one of the most basic skills (critical thinking) and now
we're surprised that this has come back to bite us in the ass.

~~~
uniqueid
I think _the_ problem, if we have to pick just one, really _is_ the diet of
crazy propaganda Youtube relentlessly pumped to the screens of _two billion
users_ for a half decade. Granted, the awesome scale is difficult to
comprehend.

~~~
fastball
YouTube is crowdsourced. That content wouldn't exist if we actually taught
people to think for themselves and not just lap up whatever is thrown at them.

~~~
spdustin
I was raised and taught the same as my brothers.

They’re conspiracy theorists. I’m not.

I am not alone in this situation.

~~~
fastball
Are you saying there was no difference between you and your brothers until
they started watching YouTube?

I find that hard to believe.

------
raister
It's called "infrastructure" in Brazil. I read 30y deforestation effort. (I'm
Brazilian, and quite ashamed right now)

~~~
divbzero
Brazil is not alone in prioritizing industrialization over the environment.
Coal in UK, oil in US, dams in China — just a few of many examples. That shame
or sense of responsibility should be shared by many countries.

~~~
Jaruzel
Context is everything. Not every country is at the same point on the
industrial timeline. The UK, US, Europe are post-industrial, and have the
luxury to focus on greener energy options. Other countries not so much (yet).

~~~
TremendousJudge
The only reason why those places mentioned can be said to be "post" industrial
is because they moved most of the industry to other countries. You can't do
that forever, you're bound to run out of countries at some point. Not all the
countries can be "post-industrial", the metal has to be smelted somewhere

~~~
Jaruzel
> the metal has to be smelted somewhere

Well, Mars. Obviously. /s

------
freakynit
It's a shame, and painful, to see humans behaving exactly the same as a virus
killing it's host slowly...

~~~
juanbyrge
It is very painful. We have this beautiful planet in the universe and we are
just destroying it. We are just too primitive in too many ways. I am very
concerned what will happen in the next 20-30 years. My only hope is that
science can save us somehow.

~~~
Jaruzel
> _My only hope is that science can save us somehow._

It's not about us. It's about the planet. Climate change only threatens us as
a species. Once we're gone, the planet will recover. It's recovered from eco-
collapse before, and it will do it again.

~~~
dropmann
Exactly, by saving us, science might do more harm than good. Finding a cure to
covid-19 could also be seen as an human intervention into nature's attempt to
regulate the human population growth. But in the the end there are only two
possible outcomes: either humans will find a way to preserve an habitable
environment or face extinction.

~~~
highmastdon
Honestly, COVID-19 isn’t the one that’s nature’s way of intervention when
compared to other diseases. There’re 4 times more people dying of cancer and
another 4 times as much of heart disease.

COVID-19 is just a way of the Big Pharma to fill their pockets and for
politicians to make a power grab (never waste a good crisis)

------
Eduard
Garzweiler surface mine

[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=50.91082,6.4249,9...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=50.91082,6.4249,9.136,latLng&t=1.34&ps=25&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

~~~
1horn
I live in Mönchengladbach and the first thing I thought of, was looking at the
Garzweiler mine.

It is worth to take a closer look. Here you can see how the Highway (Autobahn
A44) is spared at the beginning until it is destroyed around 2006. It was
reconstructed and reopened in 2018. It is frightening to see how the villages
get eaten by the mine. At the same time you can also see the construction of
the relocated villages Otzenrath, Holz and Spenrath north of the mine.

[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=51.06266,6.47476,...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=51.06266,6.47476,10.796,latLng&t=1.62&ps=25&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

------
Polylactic_acid
Well this is the most depressing thing I have seen recently. Was interesting
to see the South Australian bushfires one where you can see the land slowly
recover after each fire.

------
Jedd
Mines around Muswellbrook, 200km north of Sydney, NSW, AU.

Our commitment to pulling stuff out of the ground and burning it, in the face
of all the science, is impressive.

[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=-32.3917,150.9078...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=-32.3917,150.90785,9.671,latLng&t=3.3&ps=25&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

~~~
slowhand09
I would not argue against that fact. I also expect we'd be chimps staring at a
black monolith had we not utilized the resources that abound on this planet.

~~~
Jedd
Probably.

Had we not started cooking our food over open fires, incurring significant
damage to our health in the process, our societal and technological progress
would also have been retarded.

However, that's not a sufficient or satisfactory answer to the question
'Should we still be doing this?'

------
KindOne
USGS has a vast database of images including aerial, weather satellites,
declassified reconnaissance satellites, and other sources.

[https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/](https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/)

The datasets you pick from can be a bit confusing unless you click the (!)
icon next to the names to figure out what they are.

I'll provide an example for looking at reconnaissance satellite images of
Atlanta, Georgia in 1979.

Search Criteria (tab):

Find Atlanta, Georgia on map. Zoom in on Atlanta, Georgia. Click on a building
like the "Fulton County Courthouse" or "Atlanta City Hall" (does not really
matter, but somewhere near them).

Date Range: 01/01/1970 - 01/01/1980

Data Sets (tab):

Declassified Data -> [check] Declass 3 (2013)

Click "Results".

Click one of the results.

Example image: May 15, 1979 -
[https://i.imgur.com/DXYxWXP.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/DXYxWXP.jpg) \- 14,273 x
1,414 px

~~~
watersb
I lived through the madness of Atlanta in the 1970s. The pace of sub urban
development seemed to rival 21st century China in its consumption of concrete
and steel.

------
mr-ron
I like what they are doing but do we need a default .5 second for every year
while the content is still loading? And seemingly no way to significantly slow
it down?

~~~
Polylactic_acid
Works fine while you are sitting inside the google datacenter

~~~
aerovistae
I laughed very hard at this comment

------
qserasera
We need every child to watch and learn about this as they grow up. They will
be fighting climate change for the rest of their life.

~~~
Polylactic_acid
Its like watching a very slow car crash you can't stop

~~~
qserasera
It's like watching people who dont care destroy what's left of the unknown on
our planet for selfish ends. There is knowledge that humans will never access
because of need and greed.

------
wpurvis
Close to home for me, the removal of mountaintops to get at coal seams in Pike
county kentucky:

[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=37.47362,-82.4710...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=37.47362,-82.47108,9.543,latLng&t=0.03&ps=25&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

The mines are abandoned now

Edit: updated link - zoom out, a lot of kentucky is affected by this.

~~~
skosch
That's not Kentucky you linked to, that's west of Cologne
([https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinisches_Braunkohlerevier](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinisches_Braunkohlerevier))

~~~
wpurvis
oops, I'll edit my link

------
praveen9920
Unfortunately, this is going to be the situation with Himalayan glaciers after
new EIA bill India is planning to pass.

[https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/what-modi-govts-
eia-d...](https://theprint.in/theprint-essential/what-modi-govts-eia-draft-
says-why-environment-experts-think-itll-encourage-violations/470248/)

------
MindTwister
Atatürk Dam is impressive/scary
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=37.57077,38.47465...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=37.57077,38.47465,9.474,latLng&t=3.23&ps=50&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

------
missedthecue
To be honest, I was underwhelmed by most of the change. The greatest marvel
was urbanization in China. Simply amazing.

~~~
jcun4128
It is interesting how they expand land, even make "islands" out in the seas(?)

------
tudorpavel
It's pretty impressive to see the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement [0]
construction beginning around 2010 and its final movement over reactor 4 being
completed between 2016 and 2017.

Link:
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=51.38202,30.09999...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=51.38202,30.09999,12.711,latLng&t=3.33&ps=50&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_New_Safe_Confinement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_New_Safe_Confinement)

------
maze-le
The port of Rotterdam:
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/#v=51.9137,4.1106,1...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/#v=51.9137,4.1106,10.171,latLng&t=3.3&ps=25&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

It was already impressive in 1984. Also interesting is the slow migration of
sand banks on the Haringvilet estuary.

------
leptoniscool
Shrinking Aral Sea:
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/#v=44.88118,58.7657...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse/#v=44.88118,58.7657,5.452,latLng&t=3.04&ps=50&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

------
dognotdog
There's also [https://earthtime.org/](https://earthtime.org/) which shows the
same satellite imagery PLUS all kinds of additional data layers (disclaimer: I
work in the lab that created it)

------
BooneJS
While not as devastating as some shown here, 44.3171003, -91.2593236 will show
you one frac sand mine in Wisconsin where they’ve leveled an entire hill and
shipped it out west. They even built a plant and several new railroad tracks
for it.

------
MiguelVieira
I wonder if they can find any timelapses of nature being restored instead of
destroyed.

~~~
sjcsjc
[https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=51.4045,30.05423,...](https://earthengine.google.com/timelapse#v=51.4045,30.05423,11.621,latLng&t=0.03&ps=25&bt=19840101&et=20181231&startDwell=0&endDwell=0)

Pripyat (Chernobyl)

------
petejames
A street view timelapse would be cool to see. Many places would have 10+ years
by now.

------
alex_duf
Now I have the intro music of the Expanse in my head.

------
totetsu
Check out your local library, or geological survey's website to see if they
have historical arial photographs going back even further.

------
h4kor
Coal Mining in Germany: 50.9121787,6.5066858

51.6423203,14.1907603

------
pixelbreaker
This is total junk on a 10Mb connection.

------
epberry
Wow what an amazing use of technology. Painful to see so many examples of
deforestation.

------
emaildanwilson
Check out Dubai go from sand to city, plus all the man made islands pop up.

------
homakov
Berlin airport, haha

------
jcun4128
wow amazed pictures all the way back to 1980's hmm

~~~
ISL
Landsat, I assume:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsat_program](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsat_program)

~~~
jcun4128
Thanks for that was trying to look around, as early as late 70's I see.

------
propogandist
The player starts with how a glacier in Alaska, and it would be nice if they
linked to content to explain what and why the glaciers are retreating

[https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/abrupt-climate-change/Glacial-
Inte...](https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/abrupt-climate-change/Glacial-
Interglacial%20Cycles)

~~~
adamjb
That link explains why the glaciers retreated approx 10kya. It doesn't explain
glacial retreat over the past half century. If anything the chart seems to
show that past trends would have us on the cusp of exiting the current
interglacial period, i.e. we should be seeing glacial advances.

------
ekianjo
Typical cherry picking of data to focus only of the areas which show negative
trends, while reforestation is a thing across the world as the NASA has
previously demonstrated:
[https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144540/china-and-
in...](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144540/china-and-india-lead-
the-way-in-greening)

~~~
xplune
The thing is, "increasing leaf area" is actually not the aim here. I'm from
India and while the deforestation situation is not as bad as (say Brazil for
Amazon Rain forest), it is still present in almost every country in the World.
Agriculture does NOT mean "restoration". On top of that we should try to
increase the restoration of native species of each country or every part of
the world and not push non-native species just because they grow fast or take
less attention while growing them. That destroys the ecosystem of that area
because of something called as Invading Species. I'm not saying that every
action taken is wrong or anything, but in this case deforestation outweighs
reforestation by a huge margin.

~~~
rimliu
How many truly non-invading species there are if you wind back far enough?

~~~
macintux
Given enough time ecosystems can adapt to new invaders.

The problem is that we’ve dramatically accelerated the movement of flora and
fauna around the world, and ecosystems can’t keep up with those changes (among
many others we’ve caused).

~~~
ekianjo
> ecosystems can’t keep up with those changes (among many others we’ve
> caused).

You will need to have some sources to back that claim.

