Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Google Earth is a dream come true for armchair geographers.  Using Google Earth, people can explore mountains, forests, and deserts around the world with just the click of the mouse.

Now, Google Earth 5.0 has introduced a new layer that might cause oceanographers and naturalists in our midst to gaze in wonder at their computer monitors.  The layer is called ARKive Endangered Ocean, which gives viewers the ability to view stunning undersea pictures of ocean life.  ARKive is an initiative run by Wildscreen, a charitable organization whose aim is to produce visual and audio content calling attention to the world’s most threatened species.

My first ARKive excursion under the sea brought me to the French Polynesian island of Moorea.  After double-clicking Layers > Primary Database > Ocean > ARKive: Endangered Ocean, Google Earth flew me in to the lush tropical 3D island which features blue lagoons, cloud-topped mountains, and calming animated seas.

After clicking numerous little blue boxes and viewing jaw-dropping pictures of the island’s beautiful scenery, I decided to get my feet wet and take a dive into the ocean to get up close and personal with the most feared of all sea creatures - the shark.  Double-clicking the blue Sharptooth lemon shark ARK icon dove me below the ocean surface to witness the amazing plethora of sea life.

Clicking the Sharptooth lemon shark ARK icon once again caused the ARKive window to appear which displayed a stunning picture of the feared fish in its natural habitat.  Plenty of data is presented like the shark’s endangered status, physical description, threats, and location of natural habitat.

After reading up on the Sharptooth lemon shark, I zoomed out to a view of the entire island.  On the southern tip of the island was another ARK icon, this time the Blacktip reef shark.  Double-clicking this icon led me to yet another deep sea dive to view this amazing creature. 

Clicking the icon again to display the ARKive window, an amazing picture of the Blacktip reef shark caught my eye.  True to its name, the great fish indeed has black tips on its fins. 

Clicking More videos and images opened the ARKive Blacktip reef shark web page in my browser that provided additional details on this distinctive shark and its endangered status.

Learning about the endangered species of our world is important, and Google Earth’s new undersea adventures using the ARKive Endangered Ocean layer is both entertaining and educational.

Read: [http://earth.google.com]