The purpose of NASA's Earth Observatory is to provide a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth's climate and environmental change. In particular, we hope our site is useful to public media and educators. Any and all materials published on the Earth Observatory are freely available for re-publication or re-use, except where copyright is indicated. We ask that NASA's Earth Observatory be given credit for its original materials.
EO News: Impact of Climate Change in Africa - November 24, 2006
November 2006Carbon Conundrum
Dan Whipple, November 2006Modeling the Land Biosphere
David Herring, October 2006Putting Earthquakes in their Place: A New Map of Global Tectonic Activity
John Weier, September 2006Rise and Fall: Satellites Reveal Full Length of Tsunami-Generating Earthquake
Rebecca Lindsey, September 2006Defying Dry: Amazon Greener in Dry Season than Wet
Rebecca Lindsey, June 2006Forest on the Threshold
Holly Riebeek, April 2006Earth's Big Heat Bucket
Michon Scott, April 2006Ancient Crystals Suggest Earlier Ocean
Rebecca Lindsey, David Morrison, March 2006Lake Victoria's Falling Waters
Holli Riebeek, March 2006Winds Connect Snow to Sea
Rebecca Lindsey, February 2006Should We Talk About the Weather
David Herring, January 2006Power to the People: How Satellite Data Help Us Exploite Nature's Rensewable Energy Resources
David Herring, January 2006Second Guessing Mother Nature: Forecasting the Surprise Snow of Janurary 2000
David Herring, January 2006Mosaic of Antarctica
Michon Scott, December 2005Looking for Lawns
Rebecca Lindsey, November 2005Drought & Deluge Change Chesapeake Bay Biology
Jim Acker, November 2005Fire Emergency in Acre, Brazil
Rebecca Lindsey, October 2005The Art of Science
William Stefanov, October 2005Hurricanes: The Greatest Storms on Earth
NASA Earth Observatory, September 2005Operation Antarctica - NASA Satellites Help Supply US Research Bases
Holli Riebeek, September 2005Cloudy with a Chance of Drizzle
Amanda Leigh Haag, August 2005Time on the Shelf
David Herring, July 2005Time on the Shelf
David Herring, July 2005Paleoclimatology
Holli Riebeek, June 2005Deep Freeze and Sea Breeze: Changing Land and Weather in Florida
Rebecca Lindsey, May 2005High Water: Building A Global Flood Atlas
Rebecca Lindsey, April 2005Stealing Rain from the Rainforest
Rebecca Lindsey, March 2005Enhancing Research and Education through Partnerships
Jeannie Allen, January 2005Polar Wind Data Blow New Life into Forecasts
Rebecca Lindsey, January 2005Collapse of the Koaka Glacier
Rebecca Lindsey, September 2004Mayan Mysteries
Michon Scott, August 2004A New Idea in Air Quality Monitoring
Rebecca Lindsey, August 2004Uncovering Chameleons
Rebecca Lindsey, July 2004Clouds are Cooler than Smoke
David Herring, July 2004Sensing Remote Volcanoes
Laurie J. Schmidt, July 2004From Forest to Field - How Fire is Transforming the Amazon
Rebecca Lindsey, June 2004Sizing Up the Earth's Glaciers
Evelyne Yohe, June 2004A Dangerous Intersection: Humans and Climate Destroy Reef Ecosystem
Rebecca Lindsey, April 2004Will Runaway Water Warm the World
Holli Riebeek, March 2004Will Runaway Water Warm the World?
Holli Riebeek, March 2004Tango in the Atmospher: Ozone & Climate Change
Jeannie Allen, February 2004Life in Icy Waters
Jason Wolfe, February 2004Smoke's Surprising Secret
Rebecca Lindsey, January 2004Auroras Dancing in the Night
Don Pettit, January 2004Breakup of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf
Michon Scott, January 2004Savanna Smog
John Weier, November 2003Denali's Fault - Alaska Satellite Facility DAAC
Laura Naranjo, November 2003Watching the World Go By
Ed Lu, October 2003Dwindling Arctic Ice
Kirshna Ramanujan, October 2003Little islands Big Wake
Laurie J. Schmidt, October 2003Land Matters
Michon Scott, September 2003Double Vision
Laura Naranjo, September 2003The Incredible Glowing Algae
Amy Casey, August 2003Searching for Atlantic Rhythms: Winter Weather & the North Atlantic Oscillation
John Weier, July 2003Global Garden Gets Greener
Rebecca Lindsey, June 2003A Delicate Balance: Signs of Change in the Tropic
John Weier, June 2003Lightning Spies
Michon Scott, June 2003Vanishing Ice
Evelyne Yohe, May 2003Escape from the Amazon
Rebecca Lindsey, April 2003Measuring Ozone from Space Shuttle Columbia
Ernie Hisenrath, Rebecca Lindsey, March 2003The Human Footprint
Michon Scott, February 2003The Road to Recovery
Jason Wolfe, January 2003From Wetland to Wasteland - The Destruction of the Hamoun Oasis
John Weier, December 2002Tracking Clouds
Robin Welsh, October 2002Rain Helps Carbon Sink
Krishna Ramanujan, September 2002Dropping in on a Hurricane
Laurie J. Schmidt, September 2002Fish Kill in the Fulf of Oman - A Space-based Diagnosis
David Herring, August 2002Teaching Old Data New Tricks
Robin Welsh, August 2002Space-based Ice Sight
Yarrow Axford, August 2002The Migrating Boreal Forest
Rebecca Lindsey, August 2002Urbanization's Aftermath
John Weier, July 2002Hunting Dangerous Algae from Space
Evelyne Yohe, July 2002Seeing Leaves in a New Light
John Weier, June 2002Arbiters of Energy
David Herring, June 2002Does the Earth Have an Iris Analog?
David Herring, June 2002Fiery Temperament
Michon Scott, May 2002Fragment of its Former Shelf
National Snow and Ice Center DAAC, May 2002The quiet forests of Canada may slowly be losing
Laurie J. Schmidt, April 2002Scientist for a Day
Jason Wolfe, April 2002Snow Sleuths
Rachel Hauser, March 2002Highways of a Global Traveler: Tracking Tropospheric Ozone
Jeannie Allen, March 2002Testing the Waters - Using Satellites to Monitor Lake Water Quality
John Weier, March 2002When Land Slides: New Imaging Methods to Monitor Slope Failure
December 2001Clouds in the Balance
Laurie J. Schmidt, October 2001A View from Above
Rachel Hauser, September 2001Measure for Measure
Rachel Hauser, September 2001Location, Location, Location
Rachel Hauser, August 2001A Violent Sun Affects Earth's Ozone
Krishna Ramanujan, August 2001In the Eyewall of the Storm
Laurie J. Schmidt, July 2001Reverberations of the Pacific Warm Pool
John Weier, July 2001Watching Plants Dance to the Rythms of the Ocean
David Herring, June 2001Astronauts Photograph Mt. Pinatubo
Cindy Evans, June 2001When the Dust Settles
Laurie J. Schmidt, May 2001From the Dust Bowl to the Sahel
Laurie J. Schmidt, May 2001Amazing Atolls of the Maldives - Exploring How Wind and Waves Shape Coral Islands
John Weier, May 2001Forecasting Fury
Laurie J. Schmidt, March 2001Tracking a Volcano: Satellite Observations of Piton de la Fournaise Reunion Island
Peter Mouginis-Mark, January 2001Frozen Soils and the Climate System
Annette Varani, December 2000Disintegration of the Ninnis Glacier Tongue
Laurie J. Schmidt, December 2000New Light on Ice Motion
Rachel Hauser, November 2000Sedimental Reasons
David Herring, October 2000Seeing into the Heart of a Hurricane
John Weier, October 2000Sedimental Reasons
David Herring, October 2000Volcanoes & Climate Change
Jason Wolfe, September 2000Changing our Weather One Smokestack at a Time
John Weier, August 2000Polynyas, CO2, and Diatoms in the Southern Ocean
Laurie J. Schmidt, August 2000Climate Clues in the Ice
Laurie J. Schmidt, July 2000Shadows of Doubt
Carol Smith, July 2000Stars, Clouds, Crops
Melissa Robertson, July 2000Tracking Eddies that Feed the Sea
William Crawford, Frank Whitney, July 2000Watching the Sun
Tom Nolan, June 2000Hurricane Floyd's Lasting Legacy: Assessing the Storm's Impact on the Carolina Coast
David Herring, May 2000Finding Fossils from Space
John Weier, May 2000Hurricane Floyd: Fearing the Worst
David Herring, March 2000When Rivers of Rock Flow
Stephen Cole, March 2000Mapping the Decline of coral Reefs
John Weier, March 2000The Mystery of the Missing Carbon
David Herring, Robert Kannenberg, January 2000Global Temperature Trends - Continued Global Warmth in 1999
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, January 2000Human Impact on the Mojave
Laurie J. Schmidt, December 1999Global Temperature Trends: Continued Warmth in 1999
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, December 1999El Niño's Extended Family Introduction
John Weier, November 1999Evolving in the Presence of Fire
David Herring, October 1999Every Cloud Has a Filthy Lining
John Weier, September 1999The Color of El Niño
John Weier, August 1999Floods: Using Satellites to Keep Our heads Above Water
John Weier, July 1999At the Edge: Monitoring Glaciers to Watch Global Change
John Weier, April 1999Changing Currents Color the Bering Sea a New Shade of Blue
John Weier, March 1999Ice and Sky
Annette Varani, December 1998A Legacy of Research
Matt Nelson, December 1998Lovely, Dark and Deep
Rosana Hemakom, December 1998On a Clear Day
Carol Smith, December 1998Snow and Ice Extent
Rachel Hauser, December 1998Eye on the Sun - Solstice
Matt Nelson, December 1998Hurricane Field Studies
Annette Varani, January 1998Melt-down
Jason Starr, December 1997Outer Limits
Dan Whipple, December 1997Questioning Convection
Dan Whipple, December 1997UARS: A Model Data Set
Dan Whipple, December 1997Upper Crust
Rachel Hauser, December 1997Growing Data
Rachel Hauser, January 1997Melt-down, Melt-down, Melt-down, Melt-down
Jason Starr, January 1997On Thin Ice
Rachel Hauser, January 1997River Seasons
Laura Cheshire, January 1997The Dirt on Carbon
Laura Cheshire, January 1997Critical Chemistry
Dan Whipple, January 1997Data in a Flash
Mike Meshek, January 1997Eye on the Ocean
Jason Star, January 1997Reckoning with Winds
Annette Varani, December 1996Visions of a Cloudy Continent
Mike Meshek, December 1996Illuminating Photosynthesis in the Arabian Sea
Matt Nelson, July 1996Fire and Ice
Rachel Hauser, January 1996Grasslands Initiative
Rachel Hauser, January 1996Silvus Borealis
Rachel Hauser, January 1996Clouds in a Clear Sky
Annette Varani, January 1996Blanket of Clouds
Dan Whipple, October 1995