A warm and dry spring in the Pacific Northwest quickly depleted the seasonal snowpack, raising concern over summer water supplies and wildland fire risk.
Skies are full of smoke in parts of the Canadian province as thousands of people face evacuation orders.
An explosive eruption thousands of years ago transformed the volcanic island but preserved a Bronze Age town under a layer of ash.
Published Jul 10, 2025
An explosive eruption sent a kilometers-high column of volcanic material over Indonesia.
Published Jul 7, 2025
The optical phenomenon revealed features on and below the Peruvian lake’s surface, such as wind patterns, natural surface films, and boat wakes.
Published Jul 7, 2025
The idyllic region of Dalarna County is the site of an ancient, powerful collision.
Published Jul 6, 2025
A round depression in the salty plains of the Kutch Basin reveals telltale signs of a prehistoric meteorite impact.
Published Jul 5, 2025
The “young” and well-preserved crater helps scientists understand cratering processes on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.
Published Jul 4, 2025
The 50,000-year-old crater is relatively young, and only the second discovered in China.
Published Jul 3, 2025
Astronaut photos captured the aftermath of torrential rainfall in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state.
Published Jul 2, 2025
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.
The world’s oldest and largest known impact structure shows some of the most extreme deformation conditions known on Earth.
Published Jul 2, 2025
12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.
Published Oct 13, 2005
Famously visible from space, ring-shaped Manicouagan Lake was filled at the dawn of the Space Age when Canada dammed a river to flood a Triassic-aged impact crater.
Published Jul 1, 2025
On June 30, 1908, an incoming fireball exploded kilometers above Earth’s surface, scorching and toppling large numbers of trees.
Published Jun 30, 2025
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Hurricane season in the basin runs from June 1 to November 30.
Published Jul 1, 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
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
Chlorophyll is used by algae and other phytoplankton--the grass of the sea--to convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugars. These maps show chlorophyll concentrations in the ocean, revealing where phytoplankton are thriving.
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
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.
Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.
Published Aug 15, 2023
NASA satellites document how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—changes over months, seasons, and years.
Published Apr 29, 2009
