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Pale blue ellipse

12.05.15

Pale blue ellipse

A map of the Earth showing its average cloudiness

Pale blue ellipse

We know for decades of observations and pictures of our “pale blue dot”, as Carl Sagan used to define it, that clouds dominate space-based views of Earth. The picture below was made using data from the Aqua satellite, which observes the Earth to measure its water cycle. That includes keeping an eye on air moisture, precipitation, ice (both on land and sea), snow, and, obviously, clouds.

The pale blue ellipse picture was realised by taking more than a decade’s worth of observations—from July 2002 to April 2015—and getting the average value for the cloud cover at each location on the planet. These were then translated into colors: dark blue for no cloud cover, white for cloudy all the time, and shades of blue in between.

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Know more here earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Picture. NASA

Vincenzo Angileri, Editor
Born in Sicily and still looking for other islands to settle in, he writes about travels and journeys. He is fascinated by cinema, food and the past. The rest of the time he does other things.
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