Dusseldorf Every day we get new news from Ukraine. Shots of devastated inner cities, people searching for firewood in fields of rubble, columns of smoke after bombing raids.
Despite this flood of images, this war in Europe keeps frightening us anew and rarely lets us go. Just like that Thursday morning in February when Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed his troops and the invasion began.
The invasion is one of the most impressive and depressing moments of 2022. The energy crisis was one consequence, the struggle for food another. During the fighting and after long negotiations, freighters filled with grain were finally able to leave Ukrainian ports through mined waters.
The satellite start-up Planet captured these and many other events with images from space. These offer a special view of our earth – and show the consequences of war, climate change and seismic activities.
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But two gigantic sporting events also caused a lot of discussion in 2022: the Winter Olympics in Beijing in the spring and the World Cup in Qatar in the middle of Advent. The start-up has also selected aerial photos for this.
Here is a selection of 13 special pictures:
As 2022 began, tremors were being felt across the Pacific. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted over several days, causing tsunami waves that radiated to both sides of Tonga, reaching Japan to the west and Peru to the east.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
At the end of January, a snowstorm swept across Athens and made for unusual winter weather. Athens spontaneously declared a holiday and instructed the authorities to help citizens stranded on the highways.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
The Winter Olympics took place in Beijing in February. The bobsledders and luge racers competed against each other at the impressive Yanqing Bobsleigh and Luge Center.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
That morning Russian troops invaded Ukraine. On the same day, Russia bombed Ukrainian air bases, including the Chuhuiv base in Kharkiv.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
In March, severe flooding hit farmland and residential areas in Queensland, Australia. This shot shows the town of Coolangatta. The aftermath of the floods was a nationwide debate about the impact of climate change.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
After the first weeks of the war, the Ukrainian army struck back: after Russian forces occupied the Cherson airbase, Ukraine attacked the site. Russian helicopters were damaged or destroyed.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
After a break due to corona, construction of the “Extremely Large Telescope” on a mountain peak in the Chilean Atacama Desert continued in April and May 2022. The altitude and the dry air are said to be ideal for astronomical observations. When completed, it will be the largest telescope ever built.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
This satellite image shows the aftermath of Russian attacks on Ukrainian grain ports. Here a grain silo was bombed in the port of Nika Tera in Mykolaiv.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
When the summer heat was oppressive in Europe, forest fires broke out in many places. In the popular holiday resort of La Teste-de-Buch in France, there was a fire right next to the picturesque dunes.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
In September, entire regions of Pakistan were hit by devastating floods, killing more than 1,500 people and displacing more than half a million people. The floods were caused by record amounts of monsoon rains and glacial melt, compounded by climate change.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
An underwater explosion caused a leak in the Nord Stream pipeline, which runs through the Baltic Sea. The leak released methane gas that rose to the surface of the sea in the form of large bubbles – and became visible.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
A massive explosion on the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia, caused a stir in October. This damaged an important Russian supply route.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)
In November and December, the football World Cup in Qatar attracted the attention of the world public. The game was played while the candles on the Advent wreath were burning in Germany, in stadiums that had been dug out of the desert and still had to be air-conditioned at this time of year. Human rights issues also caused discussions and criticism. Here’s a shot of Ahmad bin Ali Stadium a good two months before kick-off.
(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)