Global temperatures have soared in recent years and climate scientists are trying to understand why.
A tongue of lava from the eruption flowed into the parking lot of the geothermal spa.
Image of the Day Atmosphere Heat Land Volcanoes Snow and Ice
Perth, the only city along the country’s western coastline with more than 1 million people, displays widespread urban infrastructure alongside the Swan and Canning rivers.
Published Dec 1, 2024
After two particularly wet years, large ephemeral lakes in the Barkly Tableland region were still flooded as the 2024–2025 rainy season got underway.
Published Nov 30, 2024
Windswept rocks and sand take many forms in this arid salt desert.
Published Nov 29, 2024
Lake water has quickly filled the void left by a trio of retreating glaciers in the southern part of the state.
Published Nov 28, 2024
The Cretaceous sandstone of Libya’s Messak Settafet plateau shows signs of a modern oil field and Stone Age quarries and hunting sites.
Published Nov 26, 2024
A novel radar image reveals structural elements of Camp Century, an abandoned U.S. military base buried within the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Published Nov 25, 2024
Orange, yellow, and white lights span Chicago at night, illuminating its gridded downtown and tracing its sinuous rivers and parks.
Published Nov 24, 2024
The amount of freshwater stored on land and underground has plummeted in the past decade, which might indicate that Earth’s continents have entered a persistently drier phase.
Published Nov 23, 2024
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
Research suggests that airborne particles called aerosols contribute to longer-lasting outbreaks of fog.
Published Nov 22, 2024
Damaging winds from the strong storm knocked out power for thousands of people in Washington state.
Published Nov 20, 2024Image of the Day Atmosphere Severe Storms Temperature Extremes
Airborne aerosols can cause or prevent cloud formation and harm human health. These maps depict aerosol concentrations in the air based on how the tiny particles reflect or absorb visible and infrared light.
NASA satellites document how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—changes over months, seasons, and years.
Published Apr 29, 2009
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
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
Your challenge is to tell us the location of the satellite image and why it is interesting.
Published Nov 19, 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.
The volcano’s first snow of the season fell in early November 2024—the latest in a 130-year record—only to apparently vanish within a few days.
Published Nov 19, 2024
Hurricane season in the basin runs from June 1 to November 30.
Published Jul 1, 2024
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
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
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
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 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.
Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.
Published Aug 15, 2023
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 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.
