Scientists used Landsat satellite images to detect both abrupt and gradual changes and to examine how phenomena, from storms to sea level rise, have reshaped coastal ecosystems.
Severe weather swept across the U.S. Midwest and Mid-Atlantic in May 2025, spawning destructive twisters in several states.
NASA’s Jack Kaye enabled decades of Earth scientists, including those who are unveiling the atmospheric ties between New York City and its suburbs.
Published May 20, 2025
Your challenge is to tell us the location of the satellite image and why it is interesting.
Published May 19, 2025
Roanoke, Virginia, is the largest city in the Blue Ridge Mountains and a stopover along a historic, scenic road.
Published May 18, 2025
The Rwenzori Mountains in eastern Africa are renowned for their water resources and endemic plants and animals, but like elsewhere in the tropics, the glaciers are dwindling.
Published May 17, 2025
Satellite images of the ancient city in Zanzibar highlight urbanization patterns and help researchers find new archaeological sites.
Published May 16, 2025
Record heat and dry conditions helped stoke several large blazes in Manitoba, Ontario, and Minnesota.
Published May 14, 2025
The Kuril Islands produced swirls of different sizes in passing clouds.
Published May 14, 2025
Still early in the fire season, satellites in mid-May observed intense blazes and towering plumes of smoke.
Published May 12, 2025
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.
Researchers used NASA satellite data to detect swarms of red-tinged copepods, a key food source for the endangered marine mammals, in the Gulf of Maine.
Published May 12, 2025
On a night with little to no moonlight, other sources of nighttime lights were on vivid display in parts of Burma, Thailand, and Laos.
Published May 11, 2025
A layer of salt called the Paradox Formation played a crucial role in the formation of thousands of arches within Utah’s Arches National Park.
Published May 10, 2025
The Hawaiian volcano has been spewing fountains of lava with remarkable frequency.
Published May 8, 2025
These maps show the average amount of water vapor in a column of atmosphere by month. Water vapor is the key precursor for rain and snow and one of the most important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting.
Published Apr 22, 2025
NASA satellites document how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—changes over months, seasons, and years.
Published Apr 29, 2009
Hurricane season in the basin runs from June 1 to November 30.
Published Jul 1, 2024
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
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
People have developed systems to harvest and store energy from sources such as wind, sunlight, and tidal action. Many of these installations are visible from orbit.
Published May 10, 2024
In addition to making rain and snow, clouds can have a warming or cooling influence depending on their altitude, type, and when they form. These maps show what fraction of an area was cloudy each month.
From ground-level ozone to particulate matter to nitrogen dioxide, an array of gasses and particles can affect the air people breathe, with implications for human health.
Published Apr 8, 2024
Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.
Published Mar 26, 2024
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.
Ocean temperatures can influence weather, such as hurricane formation, and climate patterns, such as El Niño. These maps show the temperature at the surface of the world’s seas and oceans.
Whether sparked by lightning, intentional land-clearing, or human-caused accidents, wildland fires are burning longer and more often in some areas as the world warms.
Published Feb 27, 2024
These maps depict monthly total rainfall around the world. Rainfall is the primary source of fresh water for humans, plants, and animals. Rain also moves heat between the atmosphere, oceans, and land.
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.
Published Aug 15, 2023
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
