NASA explains viral 'bumpy' Earth image depicts geoidea, not planet’s actual shape
A recent image of Earth showing pronounced bumps went viral on social media with claims that it represented the planet’s true shape. NASA and the European Space Agency clarified that the picture is a visualisation of the Earth’s geoid – a scientific model of how the planet’s gravity would shape a global ocean surface, not the physical terrain.
The geoid model, named GOCO06s, was generated from more than one‑billion gravity measurements collected over 15 years by a fleet of 19 satellites, notably the GRACE and GOCE missions. To make the subtle variations visible, the differences were amplified by a factor of about 10,000, producing the striking “bumpy” appearance. Scientists emphasised that an astronaut would still see a largely round Earth from orbit because the geoid reflects gravity, not actual topography.
This representation is valuable for fields such as geodesy, oceanography and satellite navigation, where precise knowledge of the Earth’s gravity field improves sea‑level measurements and water‑resource monitoring.
Entities: European Space Agency · GOCE mission · GOCO06s · GRACE mission · NASA
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 3 SOURCES] The geoid model was created using over one billion measurements collected over 15 years by 19 satellites. (NASA and ESA scientists)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The visual variations in the image are exaggerated by a factor of 10,000 for visibility. (NASA)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] The satellites include the GRACE and GOCE missions. (NASA and ESA)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The viral image of Earth with bumps does not represent the planet's true shape. (NASA)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The geoid model is useful for geodesy, oceanography, and satellite navigation. (NASA and ESA)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Astronauts would still see a round Earth from space because the geoid is not the physical surface. (NASA)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] The resulting model is called GOCO06s and is the most precise gravitational model to date. (NASA and ESA)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The image depicts the Earth's geoid, a model of how gravity would affect an ocean surface. (NASA)