Why is everyone assuming these are satellite images?
Yes, I know that the google button says “satellite”, but I also know that a lot of the imagery from other sites of this sort uses a mix of satellite images and images photographed from airplanes. And google is clearing using a mix of imaging resources, some of better and some lesser quality.
If this is aerial, and not satellite, photography, I think there’d be little question that these were cloud reflections. The photographer was flying below the clouds which were reflected back at the camera on the lake surface.
Possible evidence that this is an aerial, not satellite, photograph:
From the link in the OP, zoom out exactly four levels. Note the vertical banding of the image. As if a bunch of very long, thin strips of photography were digitally stiched together.
I suppose you might see this sort of effect from satellite or aerial photography, but the small width of the bands seems to me to point to a photographer taking long passes in an airplane, where the obvious “stitching” I’ve run into from satellite photography tends to be bunches of rectangles stitched together.
in general it’s not fair to compare this to worldwind or anything else because this is a web app. a really friggin cool one too. it is so neat on the uni’s 21" mac monitors
But if there was that much clouds in the sky, I think you’ll see an indication of it on the ground. The photo shows distinct shadows, which is a strong indication that it was taken on a clear sunny day.
OK. Between the similarity of Relay’s view to the one Google has (assuming they’re not identical pictures displayed slightly differently) and the way the clouds are visible in Sanibel Man’s link, I’d have to say that it’s not a cloud. There must be something going on under water or on the surface to get that effect though.
Incidentally, the reason I noticed this was scanning the area around my mom’s house. I’m going to visit on Sunday, so I’ll stop by and check out the lake. Here’s where my parents live, about a mile NW (zoom in all the way, our house is centered):
There’s this lake, nearby, which also looks very much like it has a cloud reflection in it. The thing that seems most convincing to me is the fact that the whiteness goes right up the bank of the water - some subsurface cause seems like it would break up near the shore. At least, to me it seems that way.
I can’t figure out how to link to the specific spot, but if you zoom out a ways on the original map in the OP, this is a fairly larger lake to the southwest.
If you double-click the map, it centers on that spot. Then, over on the right, click “Link to this page,” and the page will reload with the specific location information in the address bar of your browser.
I just made up a fun game. On the Google Maps home page is the US map. Double click somewhere that’s not shown at that detail, then zoom far in to see how close you got.
Here’s my first attempt, aiming for Eugene, OR. Pretty damn good, I think! Just outside the city limits!
That was a bit silly of me. “Link to this page” is actually a link to the page which you can copy and paste. :smack: If you add to the link “&z=#”, where #:0-15, you can set the zoom, 0 being most detailed.
What’s going on with the large group of small lakes to the south of the lake in the OP? They’re all dark. Not reflecting the sky, because of the angle between the camera and the sun? And the pool farther south. But then look near the big buildings across the street to the east (SSE of OP lake) at the elongated, comma-shaped body of water. It’s bluish.
FYI, that complex is the Centenary College Equestrian Center. Check out the black dots in the field to south of the big buildings - horses. The white lines are jumps.
TMINC, the white looks the same as in my OP lake, so I don’t think it’s cloud. Somehow I think my eye can differentiate between the texture of what I think is the bottom of the lake and what the texture of the reflection of a cloud on a lake would look like. The white looks like it’s color density originates from the protrusion of land in the middle. And there are much more intense white streaks coming from shore on the right of the white area. If that makes sense…
Shallow bodies of water would make it possible to see the bottom and make the water seem lighter blue. Deeper water looks darker and you can’t see the bottom. Do I have it backwards? Or is the angle of the sun?
Nice shot on Danbury. Looks like they’ve got crappy resolution on CT. Too bad.
You mean this lake? The whiteness does go right up to the bank, but in many places it seems to intensify as it gets closer. If these are cloud reflections, there should be no correlation at all. Whereas if they were surface waves, you’d expect it to change due to different wind conditions near the shore and/or the shallower depth.
All the pictures that look like they have ‘cloud reflections’ in them look like very high-atmosphere type clouds - none of the big puffy cumulus numbers. You wouldn’t see shadows on the ground, and I think you could get this effect with a few clouds high in the atmosphere and an angle from the satellite that wasn’t perfectly vertical.
They fixed that. They were caught out by the popularity of the program and simply didn’t have the server capacity to dish out the images. It’s very fast now (subject to your connection).
Try this, and go to the highest magnification. The whiteness is more uniform in the open water and more varied near the shore. And the whiteness is enhanced on the western side of the peninsula, and decreased on the eastern side. There are also streaks originating at the bank and pointing towards the northeast. Similar streaks are also visible if you scroll a little to the west (around here).
Ok, then…what’s this?. Just off the coast of Dana Point, CA…reddish, but patterned, some squares, others a jumbled glob. Red kelp? I’ve only seen greenish yellow kelp here. Red Tide? Patterned Red Tide? Traps of some sort or crab colonies?
Yeticus Rex, that’s got to be vegetation or algae of some type. I don’t think crabs or other crustaceans would be that color unless the water there is a lot warmer than I’ve been led to believe.
I always know I’m close to home after a plane trip when I’m coming in low over this patchwork quilt!
Traps of some sort or crab colonies? 