What you need to know
- Google is releasing a new Doodle to mark Earth Day 2022 on Friday.
- The Doodle will present viewers with time-lapse GIFs of how climate change has affected the planet over the years.
- Each time-lapse will last for several hours at a time, switching between four different locations around the world throughout the day.
Earth Day is on Friday, and Google is really sticking this one in our faces thanks to the latest Google Doodle. The company is releasing a set of GIFs displaying time-lapses of four different locations around the world to view how they've changed over the years.
The Doodle will display Mt. Kilimanjaro, Sermersooq (Greenland), the Harz forests (Germany), and The Great Barrier Reef, showing one location for several hours a day before switching to another. While it may sound nice, it's actually quite a jarring view of how the change in climate has affected these areas.
For example, with Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, you can see the changes from as far back as 1985 as the years display less and less ice at its peak. Sermersooq, Greenland also shows a massive retreat of ice over the past 20 years.
The Harz forests in Elend, Germany have transformed from luscious green forestry in 1995 to a partially destroyed landscape in 2020. This is the result of bark beetle infestation, which can be attributed to "rising temperatures and severe drought" in the area. Finally, a timelapse of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia shows rapid coral bleaching occurring within a couple of months in 2016.
The vibe is noticeably different from what Google did in 2021, but it makes great use of Google Earth's Timelapse feature, which debuted last year. There's also a link under each GIF that takes you to each location so you can control the time-lapse yourself.
Despite what your thoughts may be on global warming and climate change, these images are pretty depressing to look at. You're welcome.
