Digital artist and filmmaker Seán Doran turned real satellite data from Earth’s atmosphere into Water World, a hypnotic film created from 2,500 infrared images captured by the GOES-16 weather satellite in late September 2024. Released through his independent project Cosma, the film transforms scientific observations of water vapor drifting above the Western Hemisphere into a cinematic portrait of Earth.

At first glance, Water World looks more like a painting than satellite imagery. Deep teal and silver clouds swirl slowly across a darkened sky, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. But every formation seen in the film genuinely existed above Earth, recorded in remarkable detail by a weather satellite orbiting roughly 22,000 miles above the equator.

Doran called the project one of his most technically demanding works to date. He transformed raw infrared data from GOES-16 into a seamless 4K Ultra High Definition film. Jointly operated by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, GOES-16 continuously monitors Earth’s atmosphere from a fixed position above the Western Hemisphere. Meteorologists use the satellite to track hurricanes, monitor wildfires, and issue weather alerts. For Water World, Doran focused on infrared bands that measure water vapor at different levels of the atmosphere.

Raw infrared satellite imagery is far from cinematic. The footage appears monochrome and often includes missing frames, compression artifacts, and gaps caused by the difficulty of transmitting huge amounts of data from orbit. Working frame by frame, Doran reconstructed missing imagery, patched incomplete sections with surrounding data, and removed distracting visual artifacts from the satellite feeds. Any imperfections left behind would flicker in the final film and disrupt the smooth atmospheric motion he wanted to achieve.

After repairing the footage, Doran assigned each infrared band to a separate color channel and processed them together into rich full-color 10-bit HDR imagery. The process created the film’s striking palette, blending scientific accuracy with an almost otherworldly beauty. To create the film’s fluid motion, Doran also used frame interpolation, a computational technique that generates new frames between existing ones. The method transformed what could have felt like a slideshow into imagery that flows almost like moving water.

The weather patterns featured in the film are not especially dramatic by meteorological standards. They capture ordinary water vapor activity across six relatively uneventful days in September 2024. Yet once slowed down, colorized, and paired with Stellardrone’s ambient track titled “Journey to the Sun,” the atmosphere takes on an entirely different feeling. Storm systems begin to resemble living brushstrokes moving across the planet, transforming familiar weather data into something unexpectedly meditative.

Doran also emphasizes that Water World is entirely independently produced. It is not an official project from NASA or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, nor does it use footage taken from their servers. The scientific data provided the starting point. The final film is entirely his own creation.

Built from real GOES-16 satellite imagery, Water World transforms ordinary atmospheric data into a mesmerizing cinematic portrait of Earth’s living skies.

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