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Google Earth highlights climate change effects

Google Earth has teamed up with the UK Government, the Met Office Hadley Centre and the British Antartic Survey to highlight how climate change could affect the planet over the next 100 years and how the Antartic ice shelves have decreased over the last 50 years.

The aim of this new project is to reach wider audiences and to educate us all about the actions we need to take to mitigate and adapt to our changing climate. The project introduces two new animated layers on top of Google Earth, an interactive mapping application.

To access the new animations, you will need to have the Google Earth application downloaded onto your pc (Google Earth download link: www.earth.google.com/download-earth.html). Then download the new layers from http://earth.google.co.uk/outreach/env_science.html.

Related information

Rising Sea Level Animation

rising sea level google animation by Zoltán Büki
This file animates one effect of climate change - rising sea levels. You can use the slider to see what will happen near you.
Note:You need to turn on the terrain in the "Layers" ...
Open in Google Earth

What it looks like

 

google earth animation

 

The two overlaying animations show:

  • global temperature changes for the next 100 years with the world getting hotter (increasing orange/red colours) over time and some regions warming more than others. The information, from the Met Office Hadley Centre, also includes “pop-ups” detailing the possible impacts of climate change.
  • the retreat of the Antartic ice shelves since the 1950s developed by the British Antartic Survey. Information “pop-ups” present scientific facts, stories and news features.