Greenland’s Bejeweled Ice Sheet
Image of the Day Jul 12, 2025

Greenland’s Bejeweled Ice Sheet

In early July 2025, around halfway through the island’s annual melting season, blue meltwater ponds dotted the western side of the massive ice sheet.
Santorini’s Hidden Worlds
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Santorini’s Hidden Worlds

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

Image of the Day Land

Towering Plume From Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki
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Towering Plume From Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki

An explosive eruption sent a kilometers-high column of volcanic material over Indonesia.

Published Jul 7, 2025

Image of the Day Land Volcanoes

Lake Titicaca in Sunglint
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Lake Titicaca in Sunglint

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

Image of the Day Water

Blast From the Past: Sweden’s Siljan Ring
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Blast From the Past: Sweden’s Siljan Ring

The idyllic region of Dalarna County is the site of an ancient, powerful collision.

Published Jul 6, 2025

Image of the Day Land

Blast from the Past: Deciphering India’s Luna Crater
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Blast from the Past: Deciphering India’s Luna Crater

A round depression in the salty plains of the Kutch Basin reveals telltale signs of a prehistoric meteorite impact.

Published Jul 5, 2025

Image of the Day Land

Blast From the Past: Arizona’s Meteor Crater
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Blast From the Past: Arizona’s Meteor Crater

The “young” and well-preserved crater helps scientists understand cratering processes on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.

Published Jul 4, 2025

Image of the Day Land

Blast From the Past: Young Impact Crater Uncovered in Yilan
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Blast From the Past: Young Impact Crater Uncovered in Yilan

The 50,000-year-old crater is relatively young, and only the second discovered in China.

Published Jul 3, 2025

Image of the Day Land

Flooding Along the Uruguay and Ibicuí Rivers
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Flooding Along the Uruguay and Ibicuí Rivers

Astronaut photos captured the aftermath of torrential rainfall in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state.

Published Jul 2, 2025

Image of the Day Water Floods

Sea Surface Temperature
Global Maps Jul 2002 — May 2025

Sea Surface Temperature

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.

Heat Water

Blast From the Past: Vredefort Crater
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Blast From the Past: Vredefort Crater

The world’s oldest and largest known impact structure shows some of the most extreme deformation conditions known on Earth.

Published Jul 2, 2025

Image of the Day Land

Blue Marble Next Generation
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Blue Marble Next Generation

12 months of high-resolution global true color satellite imagery.

Published Oct 13, 2005

Atmosphere Land Water Snow and Ice

Blast From the Past: A Modern Lake in an Ancient Crater
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Blast From the Past: A Modern Lake in an Ancient Crater

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

Image of the Day Land

A Cosmic Explosion Over Siberia
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A Cosmic Explosion Over Siberia

On June 30, 1908, an incoming fireball exploded kilometers above Earth’s surface, scorching and toppling large numbers of trees.

Published Jun 30, 2025

Image of the Day Atmosphere Land

Earth at Night
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Earth at Night

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

Atmosphere Land Human Presence Remote Sensing

Carbon Monoxide
Global Maps Mar 2000 — Oct 2024

Carbon Monoxide

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.

Atmosphere

How to Interpret a Satellite Image: Five Tips and Strategies
Article

How to Interpret a Satellite Image: Five Tips and Strategies

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

Remote Sensing

Aerosol Optical Depth
Global Maps Mar 2000 — May 2025

Aerosol Optical Depth

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.

Atmosphere

Land Surface Temperature Anomaly
Global Maps Feb 2000 — May 2025

Land Surface Temperature Anomaly

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.

Heat Land

2024 North Atlantic Hurricane Season
Article

2024 North Atlantic Hurricane Season

Hurricane season in the basin runs from June 1 to November 30.

Published Jul 1, 2024

Atmosphere

Mission: Biomes
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Mission: Biomes

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

Land Life

Renewable and Alternative Energy
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Renewable and Alternative Energy

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

Land Human Presence

Chlorophyll
Global Maps Jul 2002 — May 2025

Chlorophyll

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.

Life Water

Air Quality
Article

Air Quality

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

Atmosphere Human Presence

Temperature Extremes 2024
Article

Temperature Extremes 2024

Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.

Published Mar 26, 2024

Heat

2024 Fires in the Northern Hemisphere
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2024 Fires in the Northern Hemisphere

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

Atmosphere Land Human Presence

Net Radiation
Global Maps Jul 2006 — Mar 2025

Net Radiation

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.

Heat

Temperature Extremes 2023
Article

Temperature Extremes 2023

Warmer-than-average temperatures are showing up locally and globally, with consequences for people, landscapes, and ecosystems.

Published Aug 15, 2023

Heat

World of Change
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World of Change

NASA satellites document how our world—forests, oceans, human landscapes, even the Sun—changes over months, seasons, and years.

Published Apr 29, 2009

Atmosphere Heat Land Life Human Presence Snow and Ice