This simulated view shows the Earth as it would appear from space if there were no clouds, based on a combination of data from three Earth-observation satellite systems. A cloud-free mosaic of thousands of images taken by NOAA Polar Orbiter weather satellites was combined with 10 years of ocean colour observations from NASA's Nimbus 7 and images of the polar ice caps from the US Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. The satellite imagery was adjusted to a natural colour scheme and specially-written computer graphics software was used to simulate the Earth's blanket of atmospheric haze.