NASA Study Shows The Earth "Breathing"
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/CNN) -- NASA has released a stunning time-lapse video representing life on Earth over the past 20 years. It was created using data compiled from satellites orbiting the Earth and it shows how life on our planet has changed.
The time-lapse video depicts Earth "breathing" repetitiously as the seasons change throughout each year.
The colors show the annual cycles of plants, animals and climate patterns.
For example, the color green represents plant life on land.
Light blue represents microscopic organisms in the ocean.
The color patterns change with the seasons
Another example is the color white, which depicts snow and colder temperatures. The video shows the snow descend during colder months and recede during warmer months.
"These are incredibly evocative visualizations of our living planet," said Gene Carl Feldman, an oceanographer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "That's the Earth, that is it breathing every single day, changing with the seasons, responding to the Sun, to the changing winds, ocean currents and temperatures."
NASA is calling it the most complete view of global biology to date.
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