As green chlorophyll fades from trees and plants each autumn, other pigments color the Earth’s landscapes. Satellites take leaf-peeping to a whole new level.
One of the most intense extratropical cyclones ever to strike the Pacific Northwest drew an equally historic amount of moisture onshore.
Image of the Day Atmosphere Water Floods Severe Storms Remote Sensing
Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what we are looking at, where it is, and why it is interesting.
Published Oct 26, 2021
Large plumes of dust from the planet’s largest island are most common during the transition from summer to winter.
Published Oct 25, 2021
The shallowest of the Great Lakes has one of the greatest concentrations of shipwrecks in the world.
Published Oct 25, 2021
The city has a rich history that has been influenced by the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Moors.
Published Oct 24, 2021
Recent storms added to an already heavy monsoon season.
Published Oct 22, 2021
Primorsky Krai, in the Russian Far East, displays some of the planet’s most striking fall color.
Published Oct 22, 2021
Volcanoes emit sulfur dioxide — a pungent gas that reacts with oxygen and moisture in the air to produce a haze called vog.
Published Oct 20, 2021
These maps depict anomalies in land surface temperatures (LSTs); that is, how much hotter or cooler a region was compared to the long-term average. LST anomalies can indicate heat waves or cold spells.
Not everything in the far north appears ready to hibernate for the winter.
Published Oct 19, 2021
Warm and dry conditions continue to affect agricultural lands in the U.S. Northern Plains and the Canadian Prairies.
Published Oct 18, 2021
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a different part of the world? What would the weather be like? What kinds of animals would you see? Which plants live there? By investigating these questions, you are learning about biomes.
Published Aug 28, 2020
Greenness is an important indicator of health for forests, grasslands, and farms. The greenness of a landscape, or vegetation index, depends on the number and type of plants, how leafy they are, and how healthy they are.
As temperatures rise on the Tibetan Plateau, lakes are growing larger and deeper.
Published Oct 18, 2021
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
Red rocks and complex geology are distinctive features of this physiographic region in Wyoming and Montana.
Published Oct 17, 2021
Spencer Gulf in South Australia hosts the world’s largest cuttlefish mass spawning event.
Published Oct 16, 2021
What do you do when presented with a new satellite image? Here's what the Earth Observatory team does to understand the view.
Published Nov 18, 2013
The pandemic has disrupted global supply chains and markets in ways that have led to backlogs of cargo ships at key ports.
Published Oct 15, 2021
Satellite images of Earth at night have been a curiosity for the public and a tool of fundamental research for at least 25 years. They have provided a broad, beautiful picture, showing how humans have shaped the planet and lit up the darkness.
Published Apr 12, 2017
Explore how snowmelt becomes water and do a cool experiment to find out how much water snow leaves behind when it melts.
Published Oct 10, 2021
Net radiation is the balance between incoming and outgoing energy at the top of the atmosphere. It is the total energy available to influence climate after light and heat are reflected, absorbed, or emitted by clouds and land.
Following caribou and brown bear trails when possible, a small NASA-supported research team trekked 800 miles across Alaska’s Brooks Range in summer 2021.
Published Oct 5, 2021
50 Years. 9 million scenes. One champion.
Published Sep 7, 2021
Summer is beach season in the northern hemisphere. But even if you're a regular at your local swimming hole, you probably haven't seen too many beaches from this perspective. See the satellite and space-station views of various shorelines from across the United States. No sunblock necessary.
Published Jul 22, 2021
Clouds can be a nuisance when scientists are trying to observe features on Earth's surface. But at other times, clouds are exactly what they want to see. These images highlight some of the more unusual and beautiful clouds observed in recent years from space.
Published Jun 21, 2021
When fuels such as coal, wood, and oil burn incompletely, they produce carbon monoxide. The gas is spread by winds and circulation. These maps show monthly averages of CO in the lower atmosphere.
Since 1999, Earth Observatory has published images and stories from all over our planet. Now you can explore more than 11,000 images in a different way: by location.
Published Jun 2, 2021
NASA has a unique vantage point for observing the beauty and wonder of Earth and for making sense of it. The images in this book tell a story of a 4.5-billion-year-old planet where there is always something new to see.
Published Apr 28, 2021
These maps depict how much hotter or cooler an ocean basin was compared to the long-term average. Temperature anomalies can indicate changes in ocean circulation or the arrival of patterns like El Niño and La Niña.
