SkyFi's Satellite Image Confirms Massive Clothes Pile in Chile's Atacama Desert

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Desert: A Surprising Dumping Ground for Fast Fashion Leftovers

Chile's Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world, has been a dumping ground for fast fashion leftovers. A mountain of discarded clothing, including Christmas sweaters and ski boots, cuts a strange sight in the desert, which is increasingly suffering from pollution created by the fashion industry.

We were curious about this story, so we asked our Discord channel to help us identify the coordinates of the piles and  we were able to purchase and access an Existing Image within 24 hours of finding the story.

Confirming Online Stories with Earth Observation Data

At SkyFi, we are on a mission to easify access to Earth observation (EO) data. One use case for the data is to confirm stories told on the Internet and for this reason, we have captured an image of this pile of clothes from space, revealing the true scale of the problem. The 50 cm resolution image, which is classified as Very High Resolution, was taken using satellite imagery, and it shows how big the pile is compared to the city in the bottom of the picture. This satellite image was $44, and it's high-resolution and tells a clear story, making it a great source of ground truth to confirm the stories we read online.

The satellite image that we ordered of the clothes pile in Chile's Atacama Desert really puts things into perspective. The size of the pile and the pollution it's causing are visible from space, making it clear that there is a need for change in the fashion industry. Our mission to make Earth observation data easy and transparent is vital to identifying and addressing problems like this one. With our web and mobile apps, anyone can access satellite imagery to confirm stories and see the world from a new perspective.