A new map shows the height of Earth’s forests, from stubby saplings to timbers towering more than 50 meters tall, across the entire land surface.
The data are useful for researchers and relief agencies because they provide estimates of where and how many people have lost access to basic services.
Image of the Day Land Unique Imagery Human Presence Remote Sensing
People started moving to the new capital of Nigeria in the 1980s.
Published Jun 29, 2022
As spring 2022 turned the page to summer, phytoplankton turned the seawater from dark to vivid.
Published Jun 27, 2022
The capital city, once a Dutch trading post, hugs the banks of the Suriname River.
Published Jun 27, 2022
The small coralline island between Madagascar and Mozambique is a haven for nesting seabirds and green sea turtles.
Published Jun 26, 2022
The majority of the nation’s people and several prominent volcanoes populate the island.
Published Jun 25, 2022
Monsoon rains have overwhelmed villages, inundated crops, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Published Jun 23, 2022Image of the Day Land Water Floods Human Presence Remote Sensing
Snowmelt and heavy rain caused historically high water that destroyed homes, roads, and bridges, and isolated some of the national park’s gateway communities.
Published Jun 22, 2022Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water Floods Human Presence Remote Sensing
Terceira Island is one of nine volcanic islands in the Azores archipelago, which straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at a triple junction.
Published Jun 22, 2022
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.
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
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 Jun 21, 2022
Researchers with SERVIR created a web-based tool that integrates NASA satellite data with observations from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
Published Jun 21, 2022
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
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
NASA satellites document how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—changes over months, seasons, and years.
Published Apr 29, 2009
Old Point Comfort was among the first places where enslaved people were traded in colonial America—and a hub of resistance to slavery during the American Civil War.
Published Jun 19, 2022
This national park in western Argentina is rich in plant, mammal, and dinosaur fossils, as well as rocks dating back 200 million years.
Published Jun 18, 2022
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.
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.
Regular spring flooding has led Native peoples to adapt to the rise and fall of the water.
Published Jun 17, 2022Image of the Day Land Water Floods Human Presence Remote Sensing
These maps show the ‘metabolism” of Earth’s plants and trees. Net primary productivity is the difference between the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during photosynthesis minus the amount released by respiration.
In honor of our site anniversary, we offer a selection of some of the most beautiful, newsworthy, interesting, and scientifically important images from 23 years online — one image for each day of the calendar year.
Published Apr 26, 2022
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
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.
For the third time in a decade, the winner hails from the Canary Islands.
Published Mar 1, 2022
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.
Published Oct 26, 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
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
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.
