Back to photostream

Our Earth

Rendering of the Earth. This was done using new experimental C++ code that is being put together as a possible successor to jDem846. It has improved algorithms and now integrates OpenGL for hardware acceleration. This new code is considerably faster and much more memory efficient than the Java-based project. Elevations are exaggerated by about 50 times to better visualize terrain features, and cloud and atmospheric elevations are rather arbitrary.

 

Sources:

- Elevation Data is derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 30-arcsecond data (SRTM30), the Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project Digital Elevation Model Version 2 (RAMP2), and the GEBCO_08 bathymetric raster from General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans.

 

- Satellite imagery provided by the NASA's Earth Observatory Blue Marble project.

 

- Global clouds are from the NASA Visible Earth catalog.

 

The full resolution image is available for download (88MB).

45,579 views
7 faves
6 comments
Uploaded on September 7, 2012