According to Genesis, Noah sees dry ground after removing the covering of Noah’s Ark.
Genesis 8:13 says that in Noah’s 601st year, on the first day of the first month, he removes the Ark’s covering and sees that the surface of the ground is dry. This occurs after earlier signs that the waters are receding, including the dove’s return with an olive leaf.
The verse distinguishes seeing dry ground from the later point when the earth is fully dry. Genesis 8:14 says that by the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth has dried, after which God tells Noah to leave the Ark.
The olive leaf is therefore not the final visual confirmation of dry land. It is an earlier sign of emerging vegetation. The precise sequence matters: the birds provide interim evidence, Noah sees dry ground through the removed covering, and the occupants eventually leave when God commands them.