Smoke from wildfires can have lingering effects on your local environment and your health. Explore how wildfire smoke travels in our sky and find out how NASA satellites track it.
The Horn of Africa is facing drought and crop failures after four inadequate rainy seasons.
Image of the Day Land Floods Severe Storms Human Presence Landslides
As the country entered the late dry season, the landscape was primed for burning.
Published Aug 15, 2022
The shallow water around Bahrain allows satellites to observe some effects of development on reefs and other aquatic features.
Published Aug 15, 2022
Linear red sand dunes are interspersed with salt-encrusted white playa lakes in Australia’s fourth-largest desert.
Published Aug 14, 2022
Water has helped define the shape of life on the Indochinese Peninsula.
Published Aug 13, 2022
In summer 2022, water levels in the Great Salt Lake dropped to new record lows.
Published Aug 12, 2022
Global mean sea level has risen 101 millimeters (3.98 inches) since 1992, and it continues to do so at 3.9 mm (0.15 inches) per year.
Published Aug 11, 2022
In one of the driest places on Earth, a thousand-year rain event delivered 75 percent of the yearly average precipitation in just three hours.
Published Aug 9, 2022
The McKinney Fire—California’s largest so far in 2022—left a vast burn scar on the landscape, while nearby fires filled the air with smoke.
Published Aug 8, 2022
Dust rich in salt often streams from dry mud flats on Mar Chiquita in Argentina.
Published Aug 8, 2022
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.
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
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.
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 ‘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.
Zion National Park is home to scenic cliffs, slot canyons, protected wilderness areas, endangered species, and archaeological sites.
Published Aug 7, 2022
The Landsat program’s 50 years of Earth observations have revolutionized the study of long-term global change, including the losses and gains of tidal wetlands.
Published Aug 6, 2022
A record amount of meltwater, much of which flowed to the ocean, is the latest expression of a rapidly warming climate in Norway’s ice-covered archipelago.
Published Aug 5, 2022
Your challenge is to tell us the location of the satellite image and why it is interesting.
Published Aug 2, 2022
Students retrieved and analyzed leaves form the tops of trees—the same part of the forest that is observed by instruments on the International Space Station.
Published Aug 1, 2022
Teaching and telling others about science is what keeps Alex Haughton coming into work.
Published Jul 28, 2022
The DEUCE payload stands vertical, moments away from being launched into space.
Published Jul 21, 2022
Sounding rockets provide a fast and cheap route to prove the viability of cutting-edge instrumentation.
Published Jul 19, 2022
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
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.
For the third time in a decade, the winner hails from the Canary Islands.
Published Mar 1, 2022
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
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.
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.
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
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
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
NASA satellites document how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—changes over months, seasons, and years.
Published Apr 29, 2009
