Where did THAT come from?!?

Anyone who knows how this obviously man-made sea made it into Google Maps? And what the bleep happened to the water level of the Dead Sea?

First image below is from Google Maps:



Compare to this map from 2007 (Wikipedia):



WTF?

If your referring to the water drought and hot weather, than its water drought and hot weather. Many lakes/rivers/seas have "disappeared " cos of over use/ climate changes throughout history. Nothing strange here. If you are referring to the multi layers of colours that tells me they are using the local water source for agriculture / human consumption.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

I have access to non-civilian satellite tech, below is a shot from within the last 6 hours in HD.

a reply to: rossacus

I am talking about THIS here manmade structures where the Death Sea was just a few years ago:

Saltworks. The flow into the Dead Sea has been trickling down for years, they predicted this would happen 20 years ago, it has been like this for a while.

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Great. Thanks! Do you have access to pics of this same area in let's say 2007 (since the map in the OP is from '007)?

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

That's the south part of the Dead Sea.

This is from Wikipedia:

View of salt evaporation pans on the Dead Sea, taken in 1989 from the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28). The southern half is separated from the northern half at what used to be the Lisan Peninsula because of the fall in level of the Dead Sea.

View of the mineral evaporation ponds almost 12 years later (STS-102). A northern and small southeastern extension were added and the large polygonal ponds subdivided.

Also from Wikipedia:

The dwindling water level of the Dead Sea

originally posted by: Utnapisjtim
a reply to: Sublimecraft

Great. Thanks!

Do you have access to pics of this same area in let's say 2007 (since the map in the OP is from '007)?

Google Earth has.

This is from 14/06/2007

a reply to: ArMaP

Where do I find old google maps images? I guess I should know, but do you mind anyway?

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Download Google Earth, installed and then, when looking at it, just click the button with the clock
and choose the date you want from the available dates that will appear.

a reply to: Cinrad

Care to elaborate? Any good articles about this?

a reply to: Sublimecraft

That is awesome. Not to derail, but i would love to see some of your satellite imagery of the area around Sandy Island. It was in between Australia and New Zealand, 23 km long and now it is gone from google maps and Earth.

Ill try and dig up coordinates..

Always good to see people pouring over satelitte imagery OP!

a reply to: Sublimecraft

ROFL!!! MacGyver!

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Water looks "redacted".

a reply to: NewzNose

Apparently it's a hi-res composite of what looks like thousands of pictures, I am unsure whether he means it can show 1:1 in HD, but that wouldn't amaze me. I would rise my brows though, possibly sigh and perhaps even shake my head slightly

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Hes talking about the one sublimecraft posted. The subdivided mineral evaporation ponds look like the water has been covered with parallel marker redactions. Especislly the top right section, where the beach dows not look like a natural water boundary. Of course this is just an optical illusion. It looks this way due to manmade steuctures and modifications.

a reply to: 3n19m470

I said composite, I meant mosaic. The second pic there is made up of a giant mosaic, each tile showing hi-res pictures of the given area. Since they are taken at different times, the light appears to be different in every one, making the jig-saw zig-zag patterns. Am I correct or did I misunderstand completely?

Adios Dead Sea. Very sad.

a reply to: 3n19m470

Of COURSE! Because there is no way any government could be hiding something there and blacking it out...

a reply to: rossacus

You'd normally be right, but the Dead Sea is not fit for either agriculture nor consumption.