Q1.
What is the most widespread colour you see? Blue, obviously, but what does it represent?
Answer
The most widespread colour is blue, and it represents water.
- Almost three-fourths of the Earth's surface is covered with water, which is why the planet looks blue from outer space. Early astronauts lovingly called it the ‘blue planet’.
- The brown (and greenish) patches are land, which covers a little over one-fourth of the globe.
- The white shapes are clouds, and the white expanse at the bottom of Fig. 2.1 is the ice of Antarctica.
Look again at Fig. 2.1: the photograph is centred on the Indian Ocean, with Africa on the left, India and part of Asia at the top, Australia on the right and Antarctica at the bottom. Notice how much more blue than brown there is — that single view is the whole point of this chapter.