An astronaut captured a moonrise—and much more—in a series of photos taken from the International Space Station.
A prolonged high-pressure weather system brought unusually warm September temperatures to British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.
Lightning likely ignited several large fires that sent smoke pouring over the Canadian province in early September 2025.
Published Sep 3, 2025
Scientists visited landslide sites in northern Nepal to better understand how satellite data can help predict these hazards and keep communities around the world safe.
Published Sep 3, 2025
Images spanning nearly four decades reveal the shapeshifting nature of the Yarlung Zangbo River as it flows across the Tibetan Plateau.
Published Sep 3, 2025
Far from large urban areas, Great Basin National Park offers unencumbered views of the night sky and opportunities to study distant stars and exoplanets.
Published Sep 2, 2025
New York City’s Manhattan Island was the site of the nation’s first Labor Day parade on September 5, 1882.
Published Sep 1, 2025
An oblique photo from the International Space Station captured haze spilling from valleys in Italy and France and streaming south along the Italian peninsula.
Published Aug 31, 2025
An asteroid that struck the rainforest in Africa around 1 million years ago created Ghana’s only natural lake.
Published Aug 30, 2025
A powerful supercell storm left a trail of damage spanning hundreds of kilometers southeast of Calgary, Canada.
Published Aug 28, 2025
Tides and sediment form brushstroke-like patterns across the river estuary in eastern Sumatra.
Published Aug 27, 2025
Land surface temperatures rise and fall with the heat of the Sun, and they represent how hot or cold the surface would feel to touch. These maps show daytime land temperatures as measured from space.
Late summer in the Northwest Pacific Ocean often sees an increase in storminess, which in August 2025 included a typhoon that lashed both China and Vietnam.
Published Aug 25, 2025
Sea salt, volcanic ash, dust, wildfire smoke, and industrial pollution are types of airborne aerosols. Natural aerosols tend to be larger than human-made aerosols. These maps show when and where aerosols come from nature, humans, or both.
The peninsula in eastern Siberia features rugged terrain with towering, snow-covered peaks and cloud-filled valleys stretching between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk.
Published Aug 24, 2025
The Santarém plateau in the northern Brazilian state displays a patchwork of cleared and uncleared land bordering a densely forested conservation area.
Published Aug 23, 2025
Your challenge is to tell us the location of the satellite image and why it is interesting.
Published Aug 19, 2025
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
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
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
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.
Hurricane season in the basin runs from June 1 to November 30.
Published Jul 1, 2024
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
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
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.
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
Snow and ice influence climate by reflecting sunlight back into space. When it melts, snow is a source of water for drinking and vegetation; too much snowmelt can lead to floods. These maps show average snow cover by month.
Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.
Published Mar 26, 2024
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
NASA satellites document how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—changes over months, seasons, and years.
Published Apr 29, 2009
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.
Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.
Published Aug 15, 2023
