Results for: Water
Notes from the Field Blog: Iowa Flood Studies
April 30, 2013A field campaign called the Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) is taking place in eastern Iowa from May 1 to June 15, 2013. The goal is to evaluate how well rainfall data from the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission can be used for flood forecasting. GPM is scheduled for launch in early 2014. Read more
Notes from the Field Blog: Greenland Aquifer Expedition
March 20, 2013NASA scientists return to Greenland, not to investigate the ice but to learn more about the water trapped within the ice. Read more
In a Warming World, the Storms May Be Fewer But Stronger
March 5, 2013Extreme storms such as Hurricane Sandy, Snowmageddon, and the tornadoes of 2011 have prompted questions about whether climate change is affecting the intensity of weather. Satellites, statistics, and scientific models are teaching us a lot about what we know and don't know about severe storms. Read more
World of Change: Green Seasons of Maine
February 8, 2013Not many places on Earth have year-round greenery and four distinct seasons. The images in this series show the four seasons of Maine, the most forest-covered state in the U.S.A. Read more
The Gravity of Water
September 12, 2012Scientists are using novel measurements of gravity to gather indispensable information about Earth’s water supplies. The GRACE mission can see water flowing underground. Read more
Notes from the Field Blog: Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS)
August 28, 2012A group of scientists are headed to the saltiest spot in the North Atlantic Ocean. They will spend six weeks at sea studying what's driving changes in the salt content of the ocean and how these variations relate to an acceleration of the global water cycle and climate change. Read more
Looking Back on Ten Years of Aqua
May 4, 2012Launched on May 4, 2002, NASA's Aqua satellite and its six instruments have provided a decade's worth of unprecedented views of our planet. Here are a few of our favorites. Read more
Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami: Looking Back from Space
March 9, 2012In 2011, the fourth largest earthquake in history rocked the coast of Japan, spawning a devastating tsunami. Satellites and scientists had an unprecedented view of both. This gallery offers a glimpse of the broad scale of the destruction, of the recovery a year later, and of some new scientific understanding that emerged. Read more
IceBridge: Building a Record of Earth’s Changing Ice, One Flight at a Time
November 2, 2011NASA is sending a fleet of airplanes to the ends of the Earth for the next several years to figure out how and why polar ice is changing. Read more
2011 Hurricane Season and NASA Research: An Interview with Scott Braun
August 1, 2011With the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season approaching its peak, a NASA meteorologist explores the key questions in hurricane research. Read more
Earth Matters Blog
June 14, 2011Earth is an amazing planet, and the one that matters most to us. Let's have a conversation about it. Read more
As the Seasons Change, Will the Plankton?
February 17, 2011To understand the planet’s biggest food source—phytoplankton—and perhaps its most important sink for carbon dioxide, you’ve got to get out on the water. Read more
World of Change: Global Temperatures
December 9, 2010The world is getting warmer, whatever the cause. According to an analysis by NASA scientists, the average global temperature has increased by about 0.8°Celsius (1.4° Fahrenheit) since 1880. Two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975. Read more
The Water Cycle
October 1, 2010Landscape sculptor. Climate driver. Life supporter. Water is the most important molecule on our planet. Read more
Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick Images: Frequently Asked Questions
July 21, 2010This FAQ explains why oil is more obvious in some satellite images than others and why the Earth Observatory doesn't post new images of the oil slick every day. Read more
What are Phytoplankton?
July 16, 2010Microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web, and they play a key role in removing carbon dioxide from the air. Read more
Global Warming
June 3, 2010Global warming is happening now, and scientists are confident that greenhouse gases are responsible. To understand what this means for humanity, it is necessary to understand what global warming is, how scientists know it's happening, and how they predict future climate. Read more
World of Change: Collapse of the Larsen-B Ice Shelf
April 7, 2010In early 2002, scientists monitoring daily satellite images of the Antarctic Peninsula watched in amazement as almost the entire Larsen B Ice Shelf splintered and collapsed in just over one month. They had never witnessed such a large area disintegrate so rapidly. Read more
World of Change: El Niño, La Niña, and Rainfall
October 23, 2009For many people, El Niño and La Niña mean floods or drought, but the events are actually a warming or cooling of the eastern Pacific Ocean that impacts rainfall. These sea surface temperature and rainfall anomaly images show the direct correlation between ocean temperatures and rainfall during El Niño and La Niña events. Read more
World of Change: Severe Storms
August 27, 2009This collection of images featuring the strongest hurricane, cyclone, or typhoon from any ocean during each year of the past decade includes storms both famous—or infamous—and obscure. Read more
Notes from the Field Blog: Journey to Galapagos
July 16, 2009Following in Darwin's footsteps, NASA oceanographer Gene Feldman explores the remarkable Galapagos Islands. Read more
World of Change: Global Biosphere
June 5, 2009Earth would not be the planet that it is without its biosphere, the sum of its life. This series of images illustrates the variations in the average productivity of the global biosphere from 1999 to 2008. Read more
World of Change: Antarctic Sea Ice
May 22, 2009Because of differences in geography and climate, Antarctica sea ice extent is larger than the Arctic’s in winter and smaller in summer. Since 1979, Antarctica’s sea ice has increased slightly, but year-to-year fluctuations are large. Read more
World of Change: Arctic Sea Ice
May 15, 2009NASA satellites have monitored Arctic sea ice since 1978. Starting in 2002, they observed a sharp decline in sea ice extent. Read more
Sea Ice
April 20, 2009Polar sea ice grows and shrinks dramatically each year, driven by seasonal cycles. Habitat for wildlife and harbinger of changing climate, sea ice offers scientists important clues about the state of our planet. Read more
An Ocean Breeze: Mapping Brazil’s Offshore Wind Power Potential
February 3, 2009Searching for alternative sources of energy for his country, one student turned to a NASA satellite to assess the feasibility of offshore wind power in Southeast Brazil. Read more
Correcting Ocean Cooling
November 5, 2008Scientists revise their conclusion that the ocean has cooled since 2003. Read more
Rapid Retreat: Ice Shelf Loss along Canada's Ellesmere Coast
September 5, 2008Beginning in late July 2008, the remaining ice shelves along the northern coast of Canada's Ellesmere Island underwent rapid retreat, losing a total of 214 square kilometers (83 square miles). Read more
The Ocean's Carbon Balance
July 1, 2008The amount of carbon dioxide that the ocean can take from the atmosphere is controlled by both natural cycles and human activity. Read more
Disintegration: Antarctic Warming Claims Another Ice Shelf
March 26, 2008In late February 2008, the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula disintegrated, an indication of warming temperatures in the region. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites provided some of the earliest evidence of the disintegration. Read more
Something Under the Ice is Moving
April 23, 2007Satellites measurements of ice sheet elevation reveal a complex network of subglacial lakes in Antarctica. As water flows from lake to lake, the ice sheet above them rises and falls. Read more
Remote River Reconnaissance
February 9, 2007Elevation data collected from the space shuttle help map Earth's rivers in remote regions. Read more
Arctic Reflection: Clouds Replace Snow and Ice as Solar Reflector
January 31, 2007Using satellite observations of sea ice and clouds, scientists discover that Earth’s poles are still effective reflectors for incoming sunlight. Read more
Hurricanes: The Greatest Storms on Earth
November 1, 2006Few things in nature can compare to the destructive force of a hurricane. Called the greatest storm on Earth, a hurricane is capable of annihilating coastal areas with sustained winds of 155 mph or higher and intense areas of rainfall and a storm surge. In fact, during its life cycle a hurricane can expend as much energy as 10,000 nuclear bombs! Read more
Rise and Fall: Satellites Reveal Full Length of Tsunami-Generating Earthquake
September 28, 2006Ambiguous seismic data and a spotty GPS network initially frustrated geologists mapping the length of the tsunami-generating earthquake that struck Indonesia in 2004. Caltech grad student Aron Meltzner decided to improvise: he mapped the rupture using satellite images of coral reefs and coastlines that rose or sank during the quake. Read more
Ask-A-Scientist
July 25, 2006Questions from visitors to the Earth Observatory and answers from scientists. Read more
Paleoclimatology: Explaining the Evidence
May 9, 2006Scientists' efforts to explain the paleoclimate evidence-not just the when and where of climate change, but the how and why-have produced some of the most significant theories of how the Earth's climate system works. Read more
Earth's Big Heat Bucket
April 24, 2006The Earth now absorbs more energy than it emits back into space, and the excess heat is hiding in the ocean. Read more
Forest on the Threshold
April 18, 2006NASA data reveal that Arctic forests are getting browner as temperatures rise. The downward trend in the forests' health may be a sign that global warming is impacting the forests sooner than scientists predicted. Read more
Lake Victoria's Falling Waters
March 15, 2006By early 2006, the Jason-1 satellite showed that water levels on Africa's Lake Victoria had dropped to levels not seen in decades, leaving the millions who depend on the lake high and dry. Read more
Ancient Crystals Suggest Earlier Ocean
March 1, 2006Tiny, ancient mineral crystals from the arid shrublands of Western Australia suggest Earth's oceans developed far earlier than scientists used to think. Read more
Winds Connect Snow to Sea
February 21, 2006Explosive blooms of plant life in the Arabian Sea between 1997 and 2003 may be the result of a significant dip in snow cover thousands of miles away in Europe and Asia. Read more
Paleoclimatology: Climate Close-up
December 23, 2005Both tree rings and similar rings in ocean coral can tell scientists about rainfall and temperatures during a single growing season. Read more
Paleoclimatology: The Ice Core Record
December 19, 2005For six weeks every summer between 1989 and 1993, Alley and other scientists pushed columns of ice along the science assembly line, labeling and analyzing the snow for information about past climate Read more
Drought and Deluge Change Chesapeake Bay Biology
November 2, 2005In September 2008, after years of population declines, NOAA declared the Chesapeake Bay’s crab fishery a federal disaster (press release). This article from 2005 describes how NASA scientists used satellite observations to study how heavy rain and drought affect the amount of pollution that enters the bay. Read more
The Art of Science
October 18, 2005Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) have many tasks, but a consistent favorite is taking photographs of Earth. Read more
Blue Marble Next Generation
October 13, 200512 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery. Read more
Paleoclimatology: A Record from the Deep
September 27, 2005Containing fossilized microscopic plants and animals and bits of dust swept from the continents, the layers of sludge on the ocean floor provide information for scientists trying to piece together the climates of the past. Read more
Operation Antarctica
September 15, 2005When Program Managers of the U.S. Antarctic Program had to figure out how to get supplies to research camps in Antarctica, they turned to NASA sensors for information. Read more
Time on the Shelf
July 12, 2005Twenty-five years of NASA scientists' research in Antarctica and Greenland show that even huge ice sheets can change more quickly than scientists thought, causing sea level to rise. Read more
Paleoclimatology: The Oxygen Balance
May 6, 2005Oxygen is one of the most significant keys to deciphering past climates. Read more
Cheyenne and Catarina: Breaking Records for Sailing and Storms
April 26, 2005When the crew of the Cheyenne set out to break the round-the-world sailing record in March 2004, they would never have guessed what an unusual storm they would meet along the way. Read more
High Water: Building a Global Flood Atlas
April 6, 2005For more than a decade, geologist Bob Brakenridge has been pioneering the use of satellite data for monitoring floods. Read more
Humans and Climate Destroy Reef Ecosystem
April 13, 2004Using fossilized coral reefs, Nerilie Abram constructed a 7,000-year climate history of cool/warm cycles in the Indian Ocean. In the course of her research she discovered that wildfires in Indonesia during the 1997-98 El Nino indirectly killed the Mentawai Reef. Read more
Life in Icy Waters
February 10, 2004When you think of polynyas as a concentrated food source for larger organisms, then it becomes clear how important they are. Read more
Breakup of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf
January 20, 2004In the summer of 2002, graduate student Derek Mueller made an unwelcome discovery: the biggest ice shelf in the Arctic was breaking apart Read more
Weighing Earth's Water from Space
December 23, 2003Launched in 2002, a pair of identical satellites that make up NASA's Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) are tackling the problem in an unexpected way: they are weighing Earth's fresh water from space. Serving as a sort of "divining rod" in space that moves in response to a powerful, fundamental force of nature--gravity--the satellites respond to changes in Earth's gravitation field that signal shifts in the movement of water a cross and under Earth's surface. Read more
Drought Lowers Lake Mead
November 28, 2003In the space of just three years, water levels in Lake Mead have fallen more than sixty feet due to sustained drought. Landsat images show the extent of the change to the lake's shoreline. Read more
Dwindling Arctic Ice
November 19, 2003Since the 1970s, Arctic sea ice has been melting at the rate of 9 percent per decade. NASA researcher Josefino Comiso points to an accelerating warming trend as a primary cause and discusses how global climate change may be influencing the shrinking Arctic ice cap. Read more
Little Islands, Big Wake
October 22, 2003The Hawaiian Islands interrupt the trade winds that blow across the Pacific Ocean, with far-reaching effects on ocean currents and atmospheric circulation. Read more
Watching the World Go By
October 22, 2003Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu describes what it is like to look at the Earth over the course of an orbit. His descriptions are accompanied by digital photographs of Earth he has taken and transmitted to the ground during his mission. Read more
Double Vision
September 3, 2003For the first time, scientists can rely on not one, but two satellites to monitor ocean surface topography, or sea level. TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1, launched nearly 10 years apart, are now engaged in a tandem mission, creating a spaceborne ocean observatory that provides scientists, climate modelers, and forecasters with nearly global coverage of the world's ocean surface at an unprecedented level of precision. Read more
The Incredible Glowing Algae
August 8, 2003The latest development in oceanographic remote sensing enables researchers to detect the glow, or phytoplankton fluorescence, from chlorophyll. Read more
Searching for Atlantic Rhythms?
July 14, 2003All over the globe there are relationships between the conditions of the atmosphere and oceans that affect weather and climate at great distances. The North Atlantic Oscillation is one of these teleconnections, linking the temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean with winter weather in North America and Europe. Read more
A Delicate Balance: Signs of Change in the Tropics
June 19, 2003While NASA climate scientists were reviewing radiation data emanating from the tropics simply to test existing notions, they uncovered a phenomenon no one expected. They found that progressively more thermal radiation has been escaping the atmosphere above the tropics and progressively less sunlight has been reflecting off of the clouds. Read more
Vanishing Ice
May 7, 2003Konrad Steffen arrived on the Greenland Ice Sheet for the 2002 fieldwork season and immediately observed that something significant was happening in the Arctic. Pools of water already spotted the ice sur face, and melting was occurring where it never had before. Read more
Teaching Old Data New Tricks
August 21, 2002Researchers have discovered that scatterometer data could provide important information on a variety of other surfaces, such as forests and ice, which became the basis for global climate change study applications. Read more
Fish Kill in the Gulf of Oman
August 15, 2002When fish began dying in droves off the coast of Oman, local media reported it was due to contaminated ballast water from a U.S. tanker while authorities feared that a toxic algal bloom was to blame. Neither was true. Using data from NASA's Terra and SeaWinds missions, a team of scientists demonstrated the fish kill was due to a series of natural environmental changes. Read more
Space-based Ice Sight
August 6, 2002Data from recent NASA satellite missions offer scientists new views of Antarctica, and new opportunities to understand how its enormous ice sheet might respond to future climate change. Read more
Hunting Dangerous Algae from Space
July 9, 2002Although red tides have been reported in Florida since 1530, scientists are still struggling to understand their cause, to predict their occurrence, and to find a way to lessen their impact. Now, a group of scientists in Florida is using remote sensing data and offshore monitoring to find and track harmful algal blooms as they form and spread. Read more
Fragment of its Former Shelf
May 28, 2002Scientists investigate the 2002 Larsen Ice Shelf breakup with the help of MODIS imagery. Read more
Hurricane Field Studies
October 23, 2001The Third Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX3) has provided forecasters with a more realistic storm picture. Read more
Clouds in the Balance
October 11, 2001In 1998, atmospheric scientists discovered a significant change in cloud vertical structure triggered by the strongest El Niño on record. Read more
Measure for Measure
September 10, 2001Governments and policy makers turn to science to better understand the impacts of global sea level rise on coastal cities. Read more
Ultraviolet Radiation: How It Affects Life on Earth
September 6, 2001Stratospheric ozone depletion due to human activities has resulted in an increase of ultraviolet radiation on the Earth's surface. The article describes some effects on human health, aquatic ecosystems, agricultural plants and other living things, and explains how much ultraviolet radiation we are currently getting and how we measure it. Read more
Reverberations of the Pacific Warm Pool
July 24, 2001Over the past several decades, scientists have uncovered a number of El Nino-like climate anomalies across the globe. One of the most recent to be discovered takes place in the Indo-Pacific warm pool. This body of water, which spans the western waters of the equatorial Pacific to the eastern Indian Ocean, holds the warmest seawaters in the world. Over a period of roughly two decades, the warm pool's average annual temperatures increase and then decrease like a beacon. These oscillations may affect the climate in regions as far away as the southern United States and may be powerful enough to broaden the extent of El Nino. Read more
In the Eyewall of the Storm
July 17, 2001Scientists have sought a greater understanding of the hurricane intensification process to improve forecasting techniques and decrease the radius of coastal evacuations. A new study using CAMEX-3 hurricane data reveals the role of "hot towers" in increasing a storm's fury. Read more
John Martin
July 10, 2001John Martin devoted his career to understanding the basic chemical processes that govern life in the ocean. His famous ‘iron hypothesis’ not only changed the way in which scientists view the ocean, but also introduced a controversial method for lowering carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. Read more
Watching Plants Dance to the Rhythms of the Ocean
June 4, 2001NASA scientists developed a new data set that enables them to observe the teleconnections between sea surface temperature anomalies and patterns of plant growth on a global scale. Read more
When the Dust Settles
May 18, 2001African dust can both benefit and harm Caribbean coral reefs. Read more
Amazing Atolls of the Maldives
May 1, 2001Though scientists have been studying atolls at least since the mid-1800s, many mysteries remain about exactly how they form and what factors determine their shape. Using satellite imagery collected by Landsat 7, scientists are attempting to discern if monsoons played a role in shaping the Maldives. Read more
Forecasting Fury
March 19, 2001Experts predict a period of elevated storm activity during the next 15 years. However, data from the SeaWinds instrument aboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite could allow researchers to detect potential hurricanes up to two days earlier than with traditional forecasting methods. Read more
Mapping the Decline of Coral Reefs
March 12, 2001Coral reefs represent some of the densest and most varied ecosystems on Earth. Over the past 50 years the health of these reefs have been declining. Using high-resolution satellite imagery, scientists are locating the reefs that are in the most trouble. Read more
Disintegration of the Ninnis Glacier Tongue
December 1, 2000Many processes that shape the Earth's landscape happen too slowly to be witnessed in a human lifetime. But analysis of satellite imagery shows that the large glacier tongue of the Ninnis Glacier on the coast of East Antarctica has disintegrated, changing the shape of the coastline almost overnight. Read more
Seeing into the Heart of a Hurricane
October 12, 2000NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission helps scientist study hurricanes and predict their paths by looking inside the storms. Read more
Ice and Sky
August 23, 2000The availability of the Canadian RADARSAT Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and new algorithms allow the detection of open water in polar ice from space. Read more
Polynyas, CO2, and Diatoms in the Southern Ocean
August 7, 2000Climate models predict a dramatic shift in phytoplankton communities that live in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean. Read more
Tracking Eddies that Feed the Sea
July 18, 2000Scientists are using sea surface height data collected by satellites to monitor eddies (vortices of water) in the Gulf of Alaska. These eddies are important because they carry nutrients from coastal waters into the open ocean, thereby nourishing the phytoplankton (microscopic plants) that form the base of the ocean food chain. Read more
Climate Clues in the Ice
July 12, 2000Newly available upward-looking sonar shows significant decreases in sea ice thickness in recent decades. Read more
Illuminating Photosynthesis in the Arabian Sea
June 26, 2000Researchers define an ocean’s seasonal cycle. Read more
Listening to Raindrops: Using Underwater Microphones to Measure Ocean Rainfall
June 14, 2000Scientists have developed a new method to measure rainfall in the open ocean with underwater microphones. By measuring rainfall over the oceans the scientists will be able to improve global climate models. Read more
Hurricane Floyd: Fearing the Worst
March 20, 2000In the wake of Hurricane Floyd, polluted runoff threatened North Carolina’s rivers and beaches. Read more
Hurricane Floyd's Lasting Legacy - Introduction
March 1, 2000Hurricane Floyd struck eastern North Carolina on September 15, 1999. In it's wake the storm left polluted floodwaters and sediment-choked rivers. Read more
Snow and Ice Extent
February 28, 2000In December 1998, field support crews had to find a way to locate regions of sea ice dense enough to allow the U.S. Coast Guard ice breaker Polar Star to dock. Read more
Global Temperature Trends - Continued Global Warmth in 1999
January 28, 2000Global surface temperatures in 1999 fell back from the record setting high level of 1998, which was the warmest year in the period of instrumental data. Read more
Eye on the Ocean
November 10, 1999El Niño/Southern Oscillation events have become easier to predict, thanks to the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite. Read more
El Nino's Extended Family Introduction
November 8, 1999Cyclic patterns in the ocean and atmosphere shape global weather. Read more
The Color of El Nino
August 19, 1999Scientists found a way to detect the end of El Niño and the beginning of La Niña by studying the growth of phytoplankton (tiny marine plants). Read more
Benjamin Franklin
August 13, 1999Famous for studying lightning by flying a kite in a thunderstorm, American Benjamin Franklin also contributed to early scientific knowledge of weather, climate, and oceanography. Read more
QuikSCAT
July 23, 1999QuikSCAT provides climatologists, meteorologists and oceanographers with daily, detailed snapshots of the winds swirling above the world’s oceans. Read more
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
May 21, 1999The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), is the first mission dedicated to measuring tropical and subtropical rainfall through microwave and visible infrared sensors, and includes the first spaceborne rain radar. Read more
Ocean and Climate Fact Sheet
April 27, 1999The Earth’s ocean and atmosphere are locked in an embrace. As one changes, so does the other. Read more
La Niña Fact Sheet
April 27, 1999The phenomenon known as El Niño is sometimes reverses, leading to strong trade winds, colder than normal water off the coast of Peru, and warmer than normal water near Australia. This cold counterpart to El Niño is known as La Niña. Read more
What is El Nino? Fact Sheet
April 27, 1999During an El Niño, the relationships between winds and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean change, with an impact on weather conditions around the world. Read more
What is a Coccolithophore? Fact Sheet
April 26, 1999Coccolithophores are one-celled marine plants that surround themselves with a microscopic plating made of limestone (calcite). Read more
Polar Ice Fact Sheet
April 24, 1999Polar ice consists of sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers. Extending over vast areas of the polar regions, this ice provides some early clues about climate change. Read more
Changing Currents in the Bering Sea
March 30, 1999During the summers of 1997 and 1998, a type of one-celled microscopic plant changed the color of the Bering Sea from its natural deep blue to a shimmering aquamarine. These plants, called coccolithophores, present a unique problem for researchers because a massive bloom of the organisms has never before been observed in the Bering Sea. Read more
Terra Spacecraft Fact Sheet
March 1, 1999On December 18, 1999, NASA launched a new flagship, the Terra satellite, to begin collecting a new 18-year global data set on which to base future scientific investigations about our complex home planet. Read more
