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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.
In March 2019, an explosion of wildflowers blanketed greening deserts in southern California.
Take a peep at some of the NASA-inspired entries in "The World’s Finest Science-Themed Peeps Diorama Contest."
Published Mar 21, 2019 in Earth Matters
Much of the Lower Mississippi River was flooded in March.
Published Mar 20, 2019
Bluer here, yellower there; here’s what scientists think is in store for the future color of Earth’s oceans.
Published Mar 19, 2019 in Earth Matters
For the first time in two years, a large bloom of wildflowers have returned, thanks to a rainy winter in Southern California.
Published Mar 16, 2019
The seasons are changing–be it winter to spring, or summer to fall. Learn more about this change and how it’s all about that tilt.
Published Mar 15, 2019 in EO Kids
Carbon flows between the atmosphere, land, and ocean in a cycle that encompasses nearly all life and sets the thermostat for Earth's climate. By burning fossil fuels, people are changing the carbon cycle with far-reaching consequences.
Published Jun 16, 2011
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.
The city’s economic engine is also a worrisome source of pollution.
Published Mar 15, 2019
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.
Westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean carry moisture into the region, but the Atlas Mountains act as a weather barrier between coastal grasslands and wetlands and the Sahara Desert.
Published Mar 15, 2019
A quick drop in atmospheric pressure produced an intense storm with hurricane-force winds.
Published Mar 14, 2019Image of the Day Atmosphere Severe Storms Snow and Ice Remote Sensing
The tracks of tropical cyclones in the Mozambique Channel often meander and loop.
Published Mar 12, 2019
A satellite sensor is helping scientists understand where smoke is headed and what it means for those breathing it.
Published Mar 12, 2019
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.
Brazilian researchers are using satellites to calculate how many cattle can be supported by the country's pasturelands.
Published Mar 11, 2019
Tropical Cyclone Idai is poised to move inland over East African countries already soaked with rain.
Published Mar 11, 2019
The Grand Canyon is one of the best known natural wonders on Earth, but astronauts see very different patterns compared with the iconic ground-based views.
Published Mar 8, 2019
Governed by the same laws of physics, very different planets display similar patterns.
Published Mar 8, 2019
In Luoping County, spring brings an explosion of canola flowers.
Published Mar 7, 2019
Creating a customized service for annual land cover mapping and change analysis in Afghanistan.
Published Mar 7, 2019 in Notes From the Field
At least 380 small and large fires burned in the Australian state in the first week of March.
Published Mar 7, 2019
With floating villages, expansive seaweed farms, and hundreds of thousands of fish cages, Sansha Bay has one of the most extensive aquaculture operations in the world.
Published Mar 6, 2019
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.
Another atmospheric river brought soaking rain to an area that was already saturated, leading to near-historic river crests in Sonoma County, California.
Published Mar 5, 2019
England, Scotland, and Wales all recorded their warmest winter day ever in February 2019.
Published Mar 4, 2019
Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what we are looking at and why it is interesting.
Published Mar 4, 2019 in Earth Matters
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
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.
The fire raged on the slopes of Kenya’s highest mountain.
Published Mar 4, 2019
In honor of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission's fifth anniversary, we're highlighting some of our favorite and most unique Earth Observatory stories related to the satellite--from farmers trying to increase crop yields to researchers predicting the spread of fires.
Published Mar 1, 2019 in Earth Matters
The remote island may be inhospitable to humans, but it provides a home to major populations of wildlife.
Published Mar 1, 2019
Moisture and solar heating lead to interesting patterns in one of the cloudiest places on Earth.
Published Mar 1, 2019
Europe stands out in satellite imagery as being one of the cloudiest continents—but not this week.
Published Mar 1, 2019
Kilauea dominated the headlines of western media, but remote Ambae in Vanuatu blew away other volcanic events.
Published Feb 27, 2019
Heavy rains have caused major flooding in areas along the river, and forecasters say there's more to come.
Published Feb 27, 2019
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
NASA Earth Observatory has existed for just one-fifth the time of Grand Canyon National Park, but over those 20 years, satellites and astronauts have captured some magnificent views of the park from above.
Published Feb 26, 2019 in Earth Matters
Mangrove forests are among the planet’s best carbon scrubbers.
Published Feb 25, 2019
A fire on the slopes of Monte Pisano sent smoke billowing across the coast.
Published Feb 25, 2019
The Menindee Lakes in New South Wales are facing extremely low water levels.
Published Feb 25, 2019
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 Oct 5, 2000
After thinning at alarming rates in the 1980s and 90s, the ozone layer over Antarctica is starting to recover. Watch how ozone concentrations in the stratosphere have changed from 1979 through 2018.
Published Feb 13, 2019Atmosphere Human Presence Remote Sensing World of Change Videos
Once the fourth-largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea has been slowly disappearing since the 1960s. View how the lake has shrunk over the past few decades.
Published Dec 5, 2018
NASA scientist Doug Rowland travels with his team to Svalbard, Norway, for the VISIONS-2 sounding rocket campaign. The team will launch two suborbital rockets in order to understand how the aurora heats the atmosphere and “boils” oxygen off into space.
Published Nov 21, 2018 in Notes From the Field
Here are eight places on Earth where the fall foliage wowed us.
Published Oct 23, 2018
In summer 2018, wildfires across western North America disrupted the lives of millions. Smoke from some of the blazes was so pronounced it was visible from space.
Published Sep 11, 2018
