April 20, 2023 | ISSUE 72

PlanetScope • Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique • July 10, 2022

In this week’s issue:

Celebrating Earth Day with exceptional satellite images

Having trouble viewing images? Then read this issue on Medium!

FEATURE STORY

Earth Day

Do you love the Earth? Do you love images? What about images of the Earth? If you said yes to any of those, strap in. In preparation for this year’s Earth Day on April 22, our editor has been sifting through Planet’s data like a prospector in search of gold, looking for extraordinary images of the planet we’re fortunate enough to call home. We think of every image of Earth from above as metaphorical gold, but some nuggets just have a bit more shine to them.

Unlike an online recipe that includes the cook’s entire life history before the ingredient list, we’re going to keep the prologue brief and let the planet speak for itself. Here’s the gist: Earth is incredible and we should do everything we can to keep it that way. So to help encourage that, here's some remarkable scenes of the planet, rated E for everyone.

SkySat • Glentanner Park, New Zealand • April 16, 2023

Sediment swirls under the ice in the prominently featured Lake Balkhash.

PlanetScope • Lake Balkhash, Kazakhstan • April 5, 2023

While searching for gold, we found emeralds. Emerald Lake sits high on the Tibetan Plateau and a series of brightly-colored pools line its shore.

SkySat • Emerald Lake, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China • April 3, 2023

What do you get when you mix sediment and algae together in a lake? This mean, green, primary producing machine.

PlanetScope • Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela • December 20, 2022

Wind and ocean-swept sand create a brilliant display in the Bazaruto Archipelago off the coast of Mozambique.

SkySat • Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique • April 14, 2023

Glaciers disrupt ice floes off the western coast of Greenland.

SkySat • North of Paamiut, Greenland • February 26, 2023

Nearly 1,800 curiously-conical hills make up the Philippine’s Chocolate Hills, named so because they turn brown in the summer.

SkySat • Chocolate Hills, Bohol Province, Philippines • March 10, 2023

Twenty-eight shark species call Shark Bay their home, but the area is perhaps best known for having the largest seagrass bed in the world.

SkySat • Shark Bay, Australia • March 25, 2023

Dunes nearly 400 meters (1300 feet) tall line Sossusvlei, a clay pan in the Namib Desert.

SkySat • Sossusvlei, Namibia • April 18, 2023

Rivers flow from mountainous highlands into Deception Bay in the Gulf of Papua.

PlanetScope • Deception Bay, Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea • March 18, 2023

Waterways flood in Australia’s Northern Territory, creating incredible patterns throughout the usually dry landscape.

SkySat • Ranken, Northern Territory, Australia • March 14, 2023

Fractal-inlets line The Bahamas coasts.

SkySat • The Bahamas • March 11, 2023

That’s a wrap! If you want to see any other places across the planet, let us know. Hopefully we’ll strike gold.

Thanks for sharing the beauty of the planet with us and happy Earth Day. But remember, as incredible as JPEGs can be, nothing beats the high resolution real-thing. So get out there, enjoy it, and maybe also take a few JPEGs while you’re at it.

PlanetScope • Simpson Desert, Australia • July 8, 2022

Weekly Revisit

Last week we concluded our carbon series with a look at coastal ecosystems, AKA blue carbon sources. So check it out in case you missed it and read more stories from the full archive if you’re extra curious.