▾ Thermal Explorer — world thermals in 3D

Every dot is one GPS fix from a real paraglider cross-country flight — 613 million points from the world's XC databases, draped onto real terrain. Colour = vertical speed reconstructed from the track: warm = climbing (a thermal), cool = sinking. Where the warm dots stack into columns, that's a house thermal — a spot that reliably lifts pilots, season after season.

Drag to orbit · scroll to zoom · the clouds stream in as you fly the camera around. Use Filters below to isolate thermals, a time of day, or a season.