Answer:
Missing parts of an image can occur, when there is insufficient satellite coverage available.
In certain cases, the satellite data from the search result only covers a portion of the AOI (Area of Interest), and the area not covered, will be missing / blank.
Detailed Example:
In the following example, a search is created in Explore Existing (Archive), with the AOI outlined by the grey polygon. The May 7th, 2024 search result has been selected to preview, and as we can see when displayed on the screen, a portion of the AOI is not covered (area where the down-sampled preview image of the data product is not covering the grey polygon).
The area captured by a satellite (referred to as the satellite or data product) only covers a certain area. These are then displayed as search results, and in certain cases such as the example above, it may only cover a portion of the AOI.
Best Practices:
1. Changing the base map from 'Satellite' to 'Light' mode
By using 'Light' mode, this provides better contrast with any search result that does not have coverage.
Light Mode Basemap (note map in background is not satellite imagery, and due to its light colour, highly contrasts where coverage is missing):
Satellite Mode Basemap (note satellite data is used for the background basemap, and it is more difficult to detect where coverage is missing, especially for higher resolution imagery):
Important Note: to ensure the data product is covering your AOI, we strongly recommend comparing the position of the preview image with the Satellite basemap. If the large scale features in the preview are not aligned with the basemap, then it is very likely the data product has been mis-projected.
2. Selecting a different search result, which has full coverage for your AOI
If the exact date of the satellite imagery is not important, search results from other dates, times, or satellite sources may include full coverage of your AOI. In the example below, the dates used for search results were expanded, and imagery from a different date was selected instead, which has full coverage for the AOI.
3. Redrawing your AOI to omit any areas that do not have coverage
The AOI has been redrawn with the polygon tool, to ensure full coverage.
4. Increasing the 'Area Coverage' setting in Filter and Sort
You can open the Filter and select what portion of Area Coverage you would like the AOI to be covered by the data product. To ensure 100% coverage, you should select the 75-100% area coverage option.