In a twist on NASA's amazing "blue marble" images of the Earth from space, the U.S. Geological survey has released this rendering of all the Earth's water as a 3D blue ball.

The liquid sphere is rendered to scale, and although it looks small compared to the entire Earth, it would measure 860 miles in diameter -- roughly the distance from Topeka to Salt Lake City. Although the ball is absolutely enormous, keep in mind that less than 5% of it is water we can safely drink.

Global water volume data for the image comes from Igor Shiklomanov's estimates in Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources.

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