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"How 50 years of climate change has changed the face of the 'Blue Marble' from space"
bbc.com/future/article/2025042…
#SaveThePlanet #BBCNews #ClimateChange
![I pasted here the first image of the cited article, showing two photos of the Earth taken from space (credits: NASA).
The first one is "The Blue Marble", taken in December 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17. Its description from the article says: "The image offers a view of the Earth from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica South polar ice cap. Heavy cloud hangs over the Southern Hemisphere, and almost the entire coastline of Africa can be seen."
The second image was taken exactly 50 years later (to the minute) in December 2022, by a satellite. Its description says "In the 50 years that separates these two snapshots in time, one of the most striking differences is the visible reduction in the size of the Antarctic ice sheet. "You can see the shrinking cryosphere – the shrinking ice sheet and the loss of the snow," says Pepin says. This, he says, is a major indicator of climate change.
The Sahara Desert has also grown while the rainforest "is retreating further south", he adds. Research has shown that tree cover in the vast Sahel region that borders the Sahara Desert has been in significant decline. "The dominant thing that you can see on the [new] image is deforestation and the loss of vegetation", as the Earth's land cover switches from greenery to desert."](https://friendica.hellquist.eu/photo/preview/640/4866503 "I pasted here the first image of the cited article, showing two photos of the Earth taken from space (credits: NASA).
The first one is \"The Blue Marble\", taken in December 1972 by the crew of Apollo 17. Its description from the article says: \"The image offers a view of the Earth from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica South polar ice cap. Heavy cloud hangs over the Southern Hemisphere, and almost the entire coastline of Africa can be seen.\"
The second image was taken exactly 50 years later (to the minute) in December 2022, by a satellite. Its description says \"In the 50 years that separates these two snapshots in time, one of the most striking differences is the visible reduction in the size of the Antarctic ice sheet. \"You can see the shrinking cryosphere – the shrinking ice sheet and the loss of the snow,\" says Pepin says. This, he says, is a major indicator of climate change.
The Sahara Desert has also grown while the rainforest \"is retreating further south\", he adds. Research has shown that tree cover in the vast Sahel region that borders the Sahara Desert has been in significant decline. \"The dominant thing that you can see on the [new] image is deforestation and the loss of vegetation\", as the Earth's land cover switches from greenery to desert.\"")
How 50 years of climate change has changed the face of the 'Blue Marble' from space
The "Blue Marble" was the first photo of the whole Earth and the only ever taken by a human. Fifty years on, new images of the planet reveal visible changes to the Earth's surface.Katherine Latham (BBC)
