Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The June 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting.
How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the location, or you can dig deeper and offer details about what satellite and instrument produced the image, what spectral bands were used to create it, or what is compelling about some obscure feature. If you think something is interesting or noteworthy, tell us about it.
The prize. We cannot offer prize money or a trip on the International Space Station, but we can promise you credit and glory. Well, maybe just credit. Within a week after a puzzler image appears on this blog, we will post an annotated and captioned version as our Image of the Day. After we post the answer, we will acknowledge the first person to correctly identify the image at the bottom of this blog post. We also may recognize readers who offer the most interesting tidbits of information. Please include your preferred name or alias with your comment. If you work for or attend an institution that you would like to recognize, please mention that as well.
Recent winners. If you have won the puzzler in the past few months, or if you work in geospatial imaging, please hold your answer for at least a day to give less experienced readers a chance.
Releasing comments. Savvy readers have solved some puzzlers after a few minutes. To give more people a chance, we may wait 24 to 48 hours before posting comments. Good luck!
Oil well fires in Kuwait.
Is it the Neom linear city development in Saudi Arabia captured beneath a sandstorm running across the Arabian Peninsula?
Iceberg B34 in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica
Crack in Larsen C Ice Shelf
A black smoker along a mid ocean ridge divergent plate
NEOM Mega Project, Saudi Arabia. Amazing out of the world (can see from space) human intelligence marvel.
I might be wrong, but this looks like some dune with wind blowing sand over the top of the dunes.
If the upper side of the picture represents the north, according to the direction of the shadow and the grazing light, we can deduce that it is dawn.
The global purple color may indicate that a filter has been applied to the picture.
Am I right? 😀
Volcanic Ash wind across the Sahara.
I think that it is the picture of a swirl of clouds or the different water or air currents.
Vidím dlouhé stíny – snad na vrstevnaté řasnaté oblačnosti – nebo na větrem poháněných krystalcích sněhu – s horskými hřebeny nad ledovcovým příkrovem snad nad Arktidou, ale spíše uvažuji o Antarktidě – období uvedení mne napadá půlnoční slunce nad povrchem a nebo naopak rovnodennost… 🙂
google translator:
I see long shadows – perhaps on layered ciliated clouds – or on wind-driven snow crystals – with mountain ridges above the ice sheet perhaps over the Arctic, but I’m more thinking about Antarctica – the period of introduction strikes me as the midnight sun above the surface or, conversely, the equinox… :- )
Mid east oil fires.
that’s my guess. If I win, I simply want mainstream media to cover the GRACE or OMG missions every night for at least one week. No funny stuff, more instructions to come after I win.
🙂
ac