Overview

The Dead Sea, which straddles the border between Israel and Jordan, has changed shape over the years. Its surface area has dropped from 410 square miles in 1930 to 234 square miles today (1,050-605 square km), causing it to split into two basins in 1979. Since then, its southern basin has been partitioned into a series of saltwater evaporation pans. 31.500000, 35.500000 Source imagery: Google Timelapse

Like many braided river systems, the main channels of the Waimakariri River frequently change within the primary riverbed, especially during periods of high flow rates. The Waimakariri extends 94 miles (151 km) across the South Island of New Zealand, beginning in the Southern Alps and emptying into the Pacific Ocean. Waimakariri comes from the Māori words “wai,” meaning water, and “makariri,” meaning cold. -43.417361°, 172.640000° Source imagery: Maxar

Every spring, billions of tulips bloom in the Netherlands, blanketing tens of thousands of acres in color. The Dutch produce more than 4 billion tulip bulbs each year, most of which are grown for sale as cut flowers. This video shows blooms around Noordwijkerhout — about 25 kilometers (16 mi) west of Amsterdam — each spring from 2016 to 2024. 52.267211°, 4.520435° Source: Landsat

After an unexpected nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, along with crewmates Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, safely returned to Earth yesterday. Their SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida just before 6pm EST. In a delightful turn of events, a pod of dolphins surrounded the capsule shortly after splashdown, as captured in this drone footage released by NAS

This animation from Brian Greenlees illustrates hundreds of train movements on the London Underground, one of the world's busiest subway systems. With 272 stations along 11 lines and 250 miles (402 km) of track, the "Tube" can accommodate up to 5 million passenger journeys per day. Despite its name, more of the London Underground lies above ground than beneath it.

Cerro Dominador Solar Thermal Plant in María Elena, Chile, was constructed between 2014 and 2021. The plant uses 10,600 heliostat mirrors — arranged in a circle roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) across — to concentrate solar radiation on a central tower receiver, where heat is transferred to molten salts. Heat is then passed on to water, generating superheated steam that feeds a turbine and generates electric energy. -22.775590°, -69.479844° Source imagery: Planet

On Sunday, the “Blue Ghost” lander from Texas startup Firefly Aerospace made a smooth touchdown on the surface of the moon. This is the first time a private company has made a stable and upright moon landing, and its marks the first U.S. touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years. Blue Ghost carried a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA, and has transmitted several photographs from the lunar surface. Video from Firefly Aerospace on Flickr

The Edmonton metropolitan area has grown in recent decades, its population doubling from 726,000 in 1984 to 1.5 million in 2021. Located on the North Saskatchewan River, it is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and the northernmost city on the continent with a population over one million. Edmonton is also a staging point for oil sands projects in the northern part of the province, as well as large-scale diamond mining operations in the Northwest Territories. 53.534444°, -113.490278°

Singapore is the smallest country in Asia, yet it has gradually increased its surface area in recent decades through land reclamation. Since gaining its independence in 1965, the small island nation off the southern tip of Malaysia has grown from 224 square miles to 277 (580-717 sq km). Singapore’s population has also increased over this same time period, from 1.8 million to more than 6 million. 1.2833333°, 103.833333° Source imagery: Google Timelapse

Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997 and has since grown and developed economically into one of the most modern cities in Central Asia. Its population has tripled in 20 years, from about 500,000 in 2003 to more than 1.5 million today. This Timelapse focuses on the Esil District, a fast-growing sector south of the Ishim River. 51.147222°, 71.422222° Source imagery: Maxar