The Climate Physics of Planet Earth
Building Earth is a new interactive map that explains how the Earth's climate has developed over millions of years through the lens of physics. The map strips the planet back to its absolute bare bones and then walks you through the four main developmental stages of the Earth - showing you how it gained an atmosphere, how wind currents began to move heat, and how the complex weather patterns we recognize today finally took shape. By building the world from the ground up, the simulation allows you to see the "why" behind global temperatures. It helps explain, for instance, why London remains relatively mild in winter while Moscow- at a similar latitude - freezes, or why the world's great deserts almost all cluster along the same specific bands of latitude. It takes us on a stage-by-stage journey through Earth's entire climatic history, visualized beautifully on an interactive data-driven 3D globe. While visually impressive, the globe is not without its anachronis...
