Oceania Gallery

Whole Earth at night, satellite image

Whole Earth map at night, satellite image. Here, Africa is seen at centre. City lights (yellow) of increasing intensity show areas of increasing population, with areas of few lights being more sparsely populated. Image obtained using data from Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites

© PLANETOBSERVER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

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World at night

World at night. Satellite map showing the world at night. Lights show areas of human population, with brightly lit areas marking dense urban populations (large cities). The dark areas include remote and undeveloped areas, and also uninhabited areas such as deserts, forests and oceans. The brightest and most urbanised areas are in North America (upper left), Europe (upper centre), and Japan and South Korea (upper right). Most of South America (lower left), Africa (centre) and Australia (lower right) are dark, as are the polar regions and large areas of Asia. Other well-lit areas include large cities in China, India, South-East Asia, the Middle East and Russia. For this map in the day, see E050/585

© M-sat Ltd/Science Photo Library

Australia, satellite image

Australia. Satellite image of the Earth, set against a background of stars, centred on the island continent of Australia. North is at top. Clouds (white) are seen in the atmosphere. On the surface, seas and oceans (blue) surround the land. Land cover ranges from vegetation such as forests and grassy plains (green) to arid areas such as deserts, mountains, and scrublands (brown). Most of Australia is an arid desert, with rainforests in some coastal areas. To the north are the islands of the Malay Archipelago, to the east the Pacific islands, and to the south-east New Zealand (all covered in clouds). This image, from 2001, combines data from a variety of satellite sensors (AVHRR, SeaWiFS, MODIS) at a range of wavelengths

© NASA/NOAA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY