Planet Snapshots

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Issue #11

PlanetScope • Chicago, IL • January 30, 2019

In this week’s issue: Satellites capture scenes of winter, China builds a ski venue in a nature reserve, and Russia amasses troops along the Ukrainian border.

FEATURED STORY

Winter Scenes: Snow, Mostly

Yesterday was the most anticipated US holiday of the year: Groundhog Day! In case you somehow forgot to mark your calendars, the weather-predicting marmot saw its shadow and thus decreed that winter would last for another 6 weeks. The news comes shortly after a nor’easter bomb cyclone hit the east coast and cold air collided with the Mediterranean sea to cover parts of Europe in snow.

While we don’t believe a groundhog can predict the weather to any degree of certainty, there are some meteorological events we usually expect each winter. Perhaps most notably is the increasing appearance of white in our images as snow blankets swaths of the Northern Hemisphere. Sometimes this change drastically alters a city’s appearance in a day, like last year’s snowstorm in Spain.

SkySat • Madrid, Spain • January 8 - 9, 2021

An intense winter storm brought rare amounts of snowfall to areas in Greece and Turkey last week. In Athens, ancient ruins became covered in snow. The Acropolis of Athens is pictured below, with visible shadows cast by the Parthenon’s iconic columns.

SkySat • Athens, Greece • January 26, 2022

In Groundhog Day fashion, shadows and winter merge in this image of Chicago from 2019. The windy city’s famed skyscrapers cast dark shadows next to a partially frozen Lake Michigan.

PlanetScope • Chicago, IL • January 30, 2019

We’re headquartered in San Francisco—a seemingly seasonless part of Earth—so we enjoy peeking at places that have distinct looks throughout the year. The Green River in northern Utah changes with each season, cycling from expanding wetlands in summer to snow-covered terrain in winter. Take a look at its 4 seasons in 4 seconds:

PlanetScope • Green River, Utah • 2019 - 2020

Lastly, in honor of Groundhog Day’s Punxsutawney Phil and his burrowing proclivities, we wanted to include an image of the world’s deepest hole: the Bingham Canyon Mine. The mine reaches a depth of 3,900 feet (1180 meters or ~2,500 groundhogs stacked lengthwise), which is far deeper than the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, is tall.

PlanetScope • Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah • March 10, 2013

Winter Games

Yet despite all this snowfall around the world, Beijing will have to rely entirely on artificial snow to overcome the area’s arid climate for the upcoming Games. CNN reports that some experts are concerned by the environmental cost of this extensive production. But there’s a far more glaring environmental impact: China’s Alpine Ski Center is built smack in the middle of a nature preserve. CNN used satellite images to illustrate the ski venue’s construction over the last 5 years and how it has changed the landscape of protected alpine forest.

Alpine Ski Center Construction • Yanqing, China • August 2016 - September 2021.

General Frost

Pogonovo training area, Russia • January 26, 2022

Tensions are running high along the Russian-Ukrainian border as Russia prepares for a potential invasion. The Associated Press and other outlets have been using satellite imagery to track military encampments and movements on the ground since the conflict began. Shown here is a training ground with tanks and vehicles close to the Russian city of Voronezh.