Issue 132: Venting Volcanoes + Glastonbury Festival + Jellyfish Lake + Groovy Namibia
In this week’s issue:
- Venting steam with volcanoes around the world
- Farmland turned festival in England
- Jellyfish-infested lake in Palau
- Appealing textures in Namibia
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Feature Story: Venting Volcanoes
If you tuned into the US presidential debate last week then you’re probably tired of watching powerful and old entities erupt. But we still have the need to vent a little before we head out for the July 4th weekend. So we’re letting off some pre-heat-wave steam with some new looks at (mostly) ancient volcanoes.
One of the privileges of working from a distance is getting to do otherwise very, very dangerous things, like peer over the edge of a volcano. This ability is critical for researchers and analysts who might otherwise have a tough time getting up close, and it’s also incredibly enjoyable for us as we find lava lakes, calderas, and ash plumes in our data. Here’s a few of our recent favorites:
In the News: Glastonbury Festival
Dairy farms typically have more cows than people. But for one week each year, this farm in the English countryside blows the cow-to-people ratio out of proportion. The multi-day Glastonbury Festival hosts a varied selection of contemporary performing arts, attracting a crowd that temporarily swells the population of Pilton, Somerset from below 1,000 to over 200,000. Here’s the party in full swing this year.
What in the World: Jellyfish Lake
If you’re flocking to a body of water this weekend, hopefully it isn’t filled with jellyfish. But if it is, you better hope it’s this 400m long lake in Palau. Jellyfish Lake, as it’s aptly named, is home to millions of harmless golden jellyfish found nowhere else on Earth. In the absence of predators, this sub-species evolved without stinging cells, meaning you can even join them in the water.
Snap of the Week: Groovy Namibia
Certain textures on Earth almost make us want to run our finger over it — like touching a spinning globe — and these formations in Namibia certainly do the trick.
All imagery Ⓒ 2024 Planet Labs PBC
Editor: Ryder Kimball | Images: Ryder Kimball, Max Borrmann, and Maarten Lambrechts
