驚異的な衛星画像
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00:00Perspective is everything, and while you can take great pics while you're down on the ground,
00:05sometimes you need to go up into the sky to truly get some great photo ops.
00:09From stunning natural scenery to top-secret military installations,
00:14let's take a look at 15 cool satellite photos.
00:19Number 15. Trump Surveillance Tweet
00:22Sometimes classified info is declassified,
00:25but in the case of this satellite picture, it went public not through a formal federal process, but through a tweet.
00:31Shared by former President Donald Trump in August of 2019,
00:34it shows a high-quality picture of a seriously damaged Iranian space facility, with the caption,
00:40The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations
00:45for the Space Launch Vehicle at Semnan Launch Site-1 in Iran.
00:49I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site-1.
00:53Now, many experts said Trump should have not shared the image,
00:57as it not only shows the world the type of surveillance pictures American technology is capable of taking,
01:02but also allows adversaries such as China and Russia to get access to a high-quality photo
01:08that they could use to further their own intelligence.
01:10Therefore, while many were happy to see the tweet, it probably wasn't the best thing to share publicly.
01:17Number 14. California Wildfires
01:21California is known for having a lot of wildfires,
01:24but in September of 2020, things got so out of hand that satellites were able to pick up on the massive amounts of smoke
01:30all the way up in outer space.
01:32You see, while climate scientists anticipated that wildfires in the region would become more intense over time,
01:38what they didn't expect was for a lightning storm to essentially trigger one of the worst conflagrations in decades.
01:44Consisting of about 9,600 individual fires, the event destroyed almost 1.8 million hectares of land,
01:51destroyed about 10,000 buildings, and cost more than $12 billion in damages,
01:55making it the third most destructive wildfire in California's history.
01:59So the fact that massive amounts of smoke were recorded by satellite was not all that surprising.
02:05Number 13. A Solar Eclipse
02:09Total solar eclipses are exceptionally rare, yet we on Earth get an exceptionally beautiful picture of one
02:14when Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite-16 captured it from outer space.
02:20Occurring on December 14th of 2020 over the skies of southern Argentina and Chile,
02:25the width of the eclipse, or path of totality, was roughly 90 kilometers wide.
02:30And for those looking at the picture on screen, it's essentially the massive blackish-brown swirl you see at the bottom of the globe.
02:37And while this eclipse was too remote for most people to see on land,
02:40this satellite image from above is arguably just as beautiful.
02:46Number 12. Hamad
02:48Some people really do like to show off, but Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan al-Nayan of Abu Dhabi
02:54took things to a whole new level back in 2009.
02:57That's because he commissioned a 3.2-kilometer-long by 0.8-kilometer-high spelling of his name,
03:03Hamad, to be etched into the desert.
03:06In order to keep his name intact, he made the letters large enough to form waterways that absorb the encroaching tide.
03:13And as a result of this, the letters are still visible from outer space today.
03:18Number 11. Barcelona
03:21Few cities are as well-loved as Barcelona.
03:23After all, not only is it one of Spain's largest cities,
03:27but it's full of cultural heritage, beautiful landscapes, and historic sites,
03:31making it a favorite destination for everyone from 20-something backpackers to seniors on cruises.
03:36However, as it turns out, the views of the city from space are just as beautiful.
03:41That's because unlike many cities, Barcelona is arranged in a series of squares and rectangles with curved edges,
03:47and the bright oranges, reds, and greens from the building really make the city pop.
03:51So while seeing the city from the ground may be the most popular method of visiting,
03:55seeing the city from above is a real treat as well.
03:59Number 10. The Nazca Lines
04:02While there are many ancient carvings out there, few are quite as extensive as the Nazca Lines.
04:07That's because these designs, which are located on the Peruvian coastal plain about 400 kilometers south of Lima, Peru,
04:14span an incredible length of over 1,300 kilometers and an area of about 50 square kilometers.
04:20Made about 2,000 years ago, they're large, elaborate etchings of zoomorphic designs
04:25such as birds, fish, lizards, dogs, trees, flowers, and humans,
04:30with the majority being etched into the rock at a depth of between 10 to 15 centimeters.
04:34Now, what is perhaps most fascinating about them is that they can only be fully seen by air,
04:39which is odd considering the indigenous people who made them
04:42would have had no means to be able to fly over the images in order to see them.
04:46The satellite images of the Nazca Lines are pretty awesome,
04:49as they are quite clear even from the far reaches of outer space.
04:52And despite there being wild speculation as to what their purpose was,
04:55it appears that they most likely had some sort of astronomical or religious significance,
05:00with the idea being that they were made so they could be seen by deities located in the sky.
05:05Regardless, despite all of the hypotheses out there, no one is 100% sure as to what they were really used for.
05:16Typically speaking, the area where a river meets an ocean or sea is nothing spectacular,
05:21but at Solway Firth, satellite imagery captured a truly amazing sight.
05:26Located off the southwest coast of Scotland at the time of the picture's capture on October 2nd of 2019,
05:32the waters along the coast were rich with sediment such as sand and silt,
05:36and organic matter such as plants, soils, and planktons.
05:40This murky combination led to the water off the Scottish coast being a brownish color,
05:45but as the water emptied into the deeper water of the Irish Sea,
05:48the color completely changed to a deep blue.
05:51While it was this natural phenomenon that led to the beautiful satellite picture,
05:55we do have to admit that there was some artistic redesigning.
05:58That's because instead of keeping the picture exactly the same,
06:01Norman Curring of NASA's Ocean Biology Group used several software programs and color filtering techniques
06:07to draw out the fine details in the water.
06:10And while the swirls and streamers in Solway Firth are real,
06:14Curring separated and enhanced certain shades and tones in the data
06:17to make the sediments and dissolved organic matter stand out.
06:21But we'd say this enhanced photo is even more beautiful than the original.
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06:37Number 8. The Wake of Tropical Cyclone Idai
06:41Cyclones are some of the worst storms imaginable,
06:44and they can destroy homes, damage infrastructure, and create widespread destruction.
06:49And while these storms are often associated with both the Caribbean and Southeast Asia,
06:53in 2019, Cyclone Idai went against this conception when it struck off the coast of Southeast Africa.
06:59Considered to be one of the deadliest storms to ever strike down in the Southern Hemisphere,
07:04it caused catastrophic flooding and landslides,
07:07along with hundreds of casualties across Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
07:11Now in this satellite image taken after the incident,
07:14we can see the extent of the damage inflicted on the city of Beira's electrical grid.
07:18That's because despite the fact that the grid covers almost the entirety of the area shown in the image,
07:23only the city's southwest corner still had any electricity,
07:27and with the blackened areas being parts that had their electricity absolutely wiped out.
07:32And while this image may be a bit depressing, the good news is that it was also quite helpful,
07:36as it's these type of images that can aid emergency responders
07:40in finding where to best implement efforts to restore electricity to a given region.
07:44So while this image may not be one that shows absolute destruction,
07:48we're happy to report that the city is in much better shape today.
07:56While cloudy days usually aren't all that impressive,
07:59these noctilucent clouds that formed over the North Pole are nothing if not incredible.
08:03Taken on June 12th of 2019, this satellite picture depicts the unusual streaks of clouds
08:09that form high in the atmosphere around sunset at the world's highest latitudes.
08:13These clouds typically only form in the spring and early summer,
08:17and are known as noctilucent, or night shining,
08:20because they appear in the twilight hour before sundown.
08:23Now in order to create the incredible image seen here,
08:25the NASA scientists involved use an instrument that measures albedo,
08:29or in other words, the amount of sunlight reflected back into space from the Earth.
08:33In this picture, noctilucent clouds appear in various shades of light blue to white
08:37depending on the density of ice particles in the air.
08:40And in order to create an accurate image,
08:42the picture had to be stitched together from several different satellite passes.
08:46Thus, while it certainly took some effort to create this image,
08:49we'd say that it was definitely worth it.
08:51As an interesting side note, it's worth mentioning that these noctilucent clouds
08:54have actually been appearing at lower latitudes over the past few years.
08:58The reason behind this seemed to be that the atmosphere has been altered thanks to climate change.
09:03There's now more water vapor than there was previously.
09:06So as the Earth continues to warm,
09:08these clouds may start becoming a mainstay far south of the North Pole.
09:16While icy lakes and deserts aren't two things that often go together,
09:20in southeast Kazakhstan's Ili River Delta, you can see both at the same time.
09:25When taken from space, a satellite picture of the area shows a stark contrast
09:29between an icy river oasis and the desert around it.
09:33Such an occurrence was possible because when the picture was taken on March 7th of 2020,
09:37the delta was just starting to emerge from cold winter temperatures
09:41and Oslik Balkhash's ice was breaking up,
09:44revealing swirls of sediment in the shallow, sandy bed of the western part of the lake.
09:48Interestingly, it turns out that while this scene is only seasonal,
09:52the oasis itself is extremely important year-round,
09:55as it's not only home to hundreds of animals and plant species,
09:58but also a number of rare ones, including the Caspian tiger and the goiter gazelle.
10:03And there have been some discussions about potentially introducing new animals into the area
10:07due to its ecological success,
10:09with these including the Siberian tiger and the Bactrian deer.
10:13So we'd say that the area is of significance due to both its beauty and ecological importance.
10:23You've seen ads on billboards, televisions, and YouTube videos,
10:27but did you know that there are even some on Google Maps?
10:31Known as mapvertisements, these are essentially massive ads that are so large
10:35that they can only be seen from outer space.
10:38While ReadyMix was technically the first company to have a logo visible from space
10:42after they created one in 1965,
10:45in 2006, KFC caused a media flurry when they made their first mapvertisement.
10:50In order to accomplish this feat, KFC used a total of 65,000 one-foot square tiles
10:56that were laid out in Nevada's Mojave Desert, near the town of Rachel,
11:00with the entire process taking about six days.
11:03It was made as part of a wider project to reinvigorate the brand's imaging,
11:07and while you may not currently be craving any of the Colonel's chicken at the moment,
11:11we suggest looking for the logo next time you're on Google Earth.
11:14However, it turns out that KFC isn't the only big brand
11:17to have a logo that can be seen high in the sky.
11:20Another famous example is Coca-Cola,
11:22who in 1986 constructed a massive Coca-Cola logo in the desert near Areca, Chile.
11:28Measuring in at the length of a football field,
11:30it was originally built to commemorate Coca-Cola's 100th anniversary,
11:34and in 2011 it even got a facelift in order to officially mark the soft drink's 125th year on the market.
11:40Yet there are some map advertisements that are only meant to be temporary.
11:44Such was the case in 2006 when the famous magazine Maxim
11:47heated up the Mojave Desert with a magazine cover featuring Eva Longoria.
11:51Taking a crew of nine workers 15 hours to secure,
11:54it was made of a vinyl mesh material that measured in at 75 by 110 feet.
11:59However, it was taken down by Maxim before it could be photographed by Google Earth,
12:03so unfortunately you won't be able to find it for yourself.
12:07Number 4. The Uyghur Concentration Camps
12:10China has been systematically destroying Uyghur society
12:14through both a cultural and literal genocide for years,
12:17but it's been only recently that satellite images of the camps have become publicly available.
12:22For those of you who don't know,
12:24the Uyghur Muslims are an ethnic group that primarily lives in the northwestern province of Xinjiang,
12:30with a total of 12.8 million Uyghurs being the Chinese government's official figure.
12:35For years, Xinjiang was considered to be an autonomous region of China
12:39that in reality only had a very marginal amount of increased autonomy when compared to other regions.
12:45But ever since 2014, the Chinese government has tried to assimilate
12:48the area's Uyghur minority group into the Han majority.
12:52This first began with ramping up police surveillance in the area
12:56under the guise that it would help prevent religious extremism.
12:59But what this really meant was the regulation of banning Muslim practices
13:03such as growing a beard, having a prayer rug, or quitting smoking and drinking.
13:07This eventually increased into the introduction of the so-called re-education camps,
13:12with the claim being that these are supposed to de-radicalize these ethnic Uyghurs.
13:16However, the reality is these camps are simply propaganda machines
13:20for the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP.
13:23Typically speaking, detainees have to spend time doing things such as singing hymns,
13:28praising the CCP, writing self-criticism essays, and being subjected to physical and verbal abuse.
13:34Beyond indoctrination, the prisoners are also forced to work as slave laborers on local cotton farms,
13:40which has led to a massive international boycott of companies that use the Xinjiang cotton.
13:46And when you further consider that more than one million people may be imprisoned at these camps,
13:51it becomes clear that they're a massive problem.
13:54The Chinese government has been both denying and mitigating the true nature of these camps for years,
13:59but satellite footage shows that they not only exist, but have several disturbing features,
14:04such as fields for slave laborers to till or massive buildings for inmates to be imprisoned in.
14:10So with this satellite evidence in hand, we think it's clear that a genocide is not only happening,
14:15but that it shouldn't be ignored.
14:18Number 3. North Korean Prisoner Camps
14:21Turns out that the CCP isn't the only government body that's running concentration camps,
14:26as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is also known to have his own set of camps in which to torture prisoners.
14:33Found across North Korea, there are believed to be at least four political prisoner camps
14:37and 14 re-education camps, with both serving different purposes.
14:42The political prisons are the more severe of the two,
14:45and are reserved for those accused of either political offenses or political unreliability.
14:50In the past, these prisoners would have three generations of their family interned with them
14:55as part of the alleged family responsibility principle.
14:58And while this has virtually been abandoned today, these prisons still are absolutely brutal.
15:04That's because prisoners are used as slave laborers in the agricultural and mining sectors,
15:09and are housed in horrible conditions, and are given meager rations that keep them on the brink of starvation.
15:15As such, about 40% of the prisoners eventually die of malnutrition,
15:19while an unknown number dies of ailments such as illness, accident, and frostbite.
15:24Generally speaking, political prisoners are kept in the prison for life,
15:28and as a result, their existence becomes absolutely miserable.
15:31When we look at the satellite images of camp number 25,
15:35we can see there are not only mines and agricultural areas on site,
15:39but a crematorium to do away with the dead bodies, and walled compounds to keep prisoners in.
15:44When it comes to re-education camps, the conditions are supposedly a little bit better,
15:50and the prison terms typically aren't for life.
15:53However, considering that North Korea has a horrible human rights record,
15:56we'd still stay as far away from the North Korean prison system as possible.
16:01Number 2. Area 51.
16:04Of all the entries on this list, none are quite as famous as Area 51.
16:08After all, it's been the subject of countless conspiracy theories over the years,
16:12with many believing that it's perhaps the site of some real-life aliens.
16:16Now, these theories first began in the 1950s,
16:18when the United States government began using the Nevada-based compound to test out some of its newest aircraft.
16:24Due to both Area 51 and the surrounding testing area it encompasses being about the size of Connecticut,
16:29it gave testers a lot of land to work with these new bombers and jet fighters,
16:33and it was while these strange planes were flying that people began to get suspicious.
16:37After all, the aircraft had often very weird shapes and looked a lot like a UFO might.
16:42So therefore, rather than just tell people that the aircraft were not UFOs,
16:46the U.S. government supposedly played along with these suspicions
16:49in order to distract from the real purpose of the base.
16:52What is this real purpose, though?
16:54Well, unfortunately for us, this is classified information.
16:58However, what does seem to be apparent is that the base is still in use,
17:01and that while it essentially served as a secret air base throughout the Cold War,
17:05it's used today as a lot more secretive.
17:07In terms of the current satellite images, they also don't tell us very much.
17:11While it's clear that the compound is quite large, there's not much info as to what's located there,
17:16and all of the more in-depth satellite pictures tend to be on the blurry side.
17:20Therefore, we may never know exactly what the base is currently used for.
17:25And as an interesting side note, despite being a secret military base,
17:28Area 51 was almost invaded by civilians.
17:31In July of 2019, more than two million people responded to a Facebook post
17:36asking people to storm Area 51.
17:39And while the whole thing was supposed to be a joke,
17:41the United States Air Force took it a little more seriously,
17:44with Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews warning the public that,
17:47quote,
17:48end quote.
17:53However, due to the fact that almost no one actually took this seriously,
17:56only about 1,500 to 3,000 people actually ended up showing up to rural Nevada,
18:01with only a handful actually making the foolish mistake of trying to enter the compound.
18:06So, the security threat of this event ended up being a lot less serious than it could have been.
18:11Number one, the Great Bahama Bank.
18:14The Bahamas is one of the most well-loved vacation destinations out there.
18:18After all, not only are there plenty of sandy beaches,
18:21but also a host of world-class resorts and amazing island attractions.
18:25However, one part of the country that's truly underappreciated is the Great Bahama Bank,
18:30which is a series of carbonate platforms that take up most of the Bahamas archipelago.
18:35Now, the bank was dry land during the past ice ages,
18:38but as sea levels rose, it slowly became covered by water,
18:41to the point that it's now between 2 and 25 meters deep,
18:44depending on where you are.
18:46The bank itself is a combination of both white carbonate sand and limestone,
18:50derived from the skeletal fragments of corals.
18:52And as seen in this satellite image taken by NASA,
18:55the constant underwater currents that the bank is subjected to
18:58have given it a wave-shaped, rippled pattern.
19:01And thanks to the sand and seagrass being present at varying depths,
19:04the image sports a range of blues and greens, making it truly beautiful to look at.
19:09Now, what's interesting about this image is that it's far more than just a pretty picture.
19:13That's because it was taken as part of a satellite program
19:16that has the goal of tracking the world's oceans.
19:19The idea is that a special set of satellites will be able to map
19:22and monitor the world's coral reef systems,
19:25which will allow marine scientists to use satellite images and maps
19:28in tandem with sea surface temperature data
19:30to identify areas that may be at risk of coral bleaching,
19:33rising water levels, and other environmental impacts.
19:36Therefore, we hope that NASA continues to take these beautiful,
19:40yet useful pictures far into the future.
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