Between 1984 and 2020, this was the change in Ecuador via satellite images | Ecuador | News

In recent days, Google Earth has built in a new tool that allows us to see the course of time on the planet over the past 37 years. The feature is called Time Lapse and allows us to observe how glaciers are melting, as well as the growth of cities and the disappearance of green areas due to population growth.

A total of 24 million satellite images were combined between 1984 and 2020. Google announced that it would add more images every year.

This new Google Earth tool shows decades of climate change in seconds

The situation can also be seen in several cities in the country where urban areas have increased significantly during this period. According to the 1982 census, there were 6’073,158 inhabitants in the country, of which 32% in urban areas and 68% in rural areas. The last census (2010) already counted 14,438,499 people (63% in urban areas and 37% in rural areas).

This situation can be seen in the images shared by Timelapse, which shows the growth of the main cities as well as the melting of volcanoes in the country.

Here are some changes to cities and ecological zones:

Guayaquil-Durán-Samborondón

Here you can see the urban growth of the three cities:

Quito

Cuenca

Machala

Francisco de Orellana

Chimborazo Volcano

Cotopaxi volcano