A five-year drought in California ended spectacularly this winter, with the state emerging from one of its driest periods on record by enduring one of its wettest. Reservoirs, lakes, and mountainsides are now brimming with water and snow, though scientists caution that the unseen reservoirs—underground aquifers—are a long way from having the same bounty that is visible on the land surface. [Full post on NASA Earth Observatory]
Trinity Lake, the third largest reservoir in the state (after Lake Oroville and Shasta Lake). The artificial lake in northern California connects to the Trinity River and is part of the Sacramento basin. On April 29, 2015, Trinity stood at 59 percent of its historical average level for that date; by April 2, 2017, it stood at 114 percent.
Before I did my googling and math, I couldn’t believe it but here it is: Shanghai has added as much land as 10 Manhattans over the past couple of decades. Here are some satellite images as witness:
The number of people living in Shanghai is not the only thing about the city that has increased dramatically since the 1980s. The amount of land available to its residents has grown as well. By building seawalls just off the coast to capture outflowing sediment, and by using dredging equipment that sucks up and moves large volumes of sand, Shanghai has added well over 580 square kilometers (220 square miles) of land to its shorelines since 1985.
Two days after it was lofted into the air over the Sahara Desert on February 20, dust blew north into Spain and Europe. As dust particles settled down en masse on the snow-covered peaks of Spain’s Sierra Nevadas, they left the mountains a very different color. [GIF shows Feb. 18 – Feb. 27, 2017. Original post on NASA Earth Observatory]
Here’s one page to view all the Super Bowl LI’s commercials without needing to keep hitting a play button (may have to go through other ads tho). Here’s my favorite, the most powerful storytelling in one short video, wordless and (and making 8+ million YouTube viewers and counting) speechless:
My son has had a fulfilling 2016: winning chess trophies and making leaping progress in piano. And he also beat Andy Murray (video below). Among his 2017 (parents-bestowed) New Year resolutions is: beating Roger Federer in the new tennis season. I, for one, have a lot of hope on that…
Having worked with images for over ten years, I feel even stronger that telling a good story with imagery is no easy job, even though technology is getting cheaper and more readily available. The world is, indeed, noisier, and people’s attention is one of the most precious resources of our time. Capturing that attention takes hard work and craftsmanship.
