Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.
An incredible image here of burning oil fields in Iraq, just north of Basra. Zoom out to see how far the plumes of smoke have travelled, and zoom in to see how huge the fires are.
Thanks to Sean, Jason Thompson, Adam Parker, Yablo and others.
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Have you gone down to the city and seen how dead it is? Almost no cars on the roads anywhere.
So THAT’S why I’m paying $2.53 a gallon.
No your paying $2.53 a gallon b/c we (Americans) are pumping 2% less oil every year
I hope google changing the maps to activex isn’t perminate
Basra is north east of these fields and there is traffic Placemark: there / Google Earth, even a traffic jam.
Safwan is the town to the southeast and there is traffic Placemark: there / Google Earth also.
The giant patchwork area south of Safwan is a bunch of fields.
So how recent are those photos? Maybe they havent been burning since 2002.
Another oil well fire is here:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
that’s why i’m paying 4.54€ (5,44$) a gallon!
come on guys. the reason why we all are paying far too much for our oil is that
- some people really know how to make money and limit oil production,
- the USA consumes crazy amounts of energy,
- china grows extremely fast and needs more oil every day,
- some people in the finance industry know how to speculate with the oil prizes.
and, of course, in some countries people have to pay nice taxes on gas.
Come to Germany and pay $5.62 a gallon. And we’ll see how happy you would be here…
Me and my family will travel 3 weeks from LA to CA in August. Are there big differences in the prices for fuel in LA/TX/AZ/NV/CA?
That is actually really cool. Nice find.
If we’re boasting about high prices, you’d pay US$6.50 per US gallon in Britain…
@carl: those maps do not require activeX, they only use JavaScript. Only the IE does not know how to separate those technologies. use firefox. works perfectly, without activeX.
marsh, I am using Firefox, but I just realized it was because I had the Change Images advanced option for javascript disabled, now it works.
Off topic but this morning on the radio they do a “This Day In History” and they shared that…
“This is the 97th anniversary of the most powerful explosion ever recorded on the earth — a meteor or comet weighing over a million tons crashed into the Tunguska region of Siberia sending a seismic shock, firestorm and black rain over hundreds of square miles.”
With something that big I am sure it shows up on googlemaps SOMEwhere… Can anyone find it?! (Would LOVE to have a This Day In History category…)
Kati: I may be wrong (I often am), but I believe the Tunguska meteor exploded before it hit the ground. At the time there were lots and lots of flattened trees, but I doubt any evidence exists nowadays. Plenty more information and some interesting speculation on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event
Transalp, I’m not from those areas but you should expect to pay about $2.00 to $2.50 a gallon maybe as high a $3.00. The price will vary b/c of state taxes on gas can vary so much.
Well that is sad. I figured there would be crator or something. Serves me right for not researching first. Oh well. I still think we should have a This Day in History. Would put some “rhyme or reason” to the posts.
“Well that is sad. I figured there would be crator or something.”
There are plenty of craters around elsewhere, eg. the first that comes to mind is the circular lake near Gagnon, Quebec.
Anybody else notice that large chunks of Iraq look like a moonscape?
And people can drive a Hummer. just as waistful
The Govinator Says:
June 30th, 2005 at 6:40 pm
Transalp, I’m not from those areas but you should expect to pay about $2.00 to $2.50 a gallon maybe as high a $3.00. The price will vary b/c of state taxes on gas can vary so much.
Thx for the info!!
Seems the Iraq photo coverage is pre-war. Take a gander at Baghdad. Not much bomb damage, no evidence of American military presence at the airport or the “green zone” etc. Lots of bomb craters all through the desert, probably remenants of 1991.
what is this though?
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
american bombs over baghdad?
Jan I think that’s the exhaust pipes of some sort of power plant. ou can see at least 4 of them (the shadows)
Thought the iraqis only burned oil wells at the 1st gulf war??
Does anyone know precisely how long the oil wells were burning in Kuwaite for? I know they burned for a helluva long time but I can’t seem to find any information on it.
Those Are burning oil wells and are burning constantly. The can be seen from right across the city of Basrah and at night are a fantastic sight on the horizon. Driving past up close at night is magical the heat from the fires is wonderful in the cold night air and give the whole area an eerie bright orange glow.
Oh and the photo’s are post gulf war 2, the British military base at the Shat-al-Arab is clearly visibly with the TDA tents. Since the tents were not erected until late 2004, then its safe to say the photo’s are pretty recent.
are theese pics from this year
no ben they’re not.
I visit your site very often. And with each visit it becomes more and more pleasant to me. It is felt at once, that professionals work at the site! It is such an unusual occurrence nowadays!
What happened to one of the 7 Wonders of the World “The Tower of Babel, the Hanging Gardens of Babel”, Iraq is said to be the location of Eden…what have they done to their agriculture?
Burning oil covers the plants in a coat of smut and smothers the plants. Causes global warming causing updrafts and waters Asia green and beautiful.