Ethiopia’s Forest in the Clouds: Unusual Plants and Wildlife Live in the Harenna Forest
A range of unusual plants and wildlife lives in the Harenna Forest, but they face pressure from development. There are few places in Ethiopia—or the…
Earth Observatory
River Colors Across the United States Are Changing
In the past 35 years, one third of large rivers in the United States have changed their dominant color, often due to sediments or algae….
A Nighttime Glow Over Mount Etna – Highly Active Italian Volcano
An Earth science satellite detected an illuminated plume spreading across Sicily during a night of heightened activity at the Italian volcano. At 1:37 a.m. local…
A Deadly Torrent of Debris Flows From a Himalayan Mountain
The torrent of debris from a mountain in the Himalayas devastated remote valleys in Uttarakhand, India. Sheer, glacier-covered ridges separated by gorges soar over the…
From Russia With Questions: Distinctive Striping Pattern in Siberia Puzzles Researchers
Researchers are puzzling over a distinctive striping pattern in the Central Siberian Plateau. Earth science satellites are generally used to observe certain features of the…
Monster Saharan Dust Plume Heading for Europe
A substantial dust plume drifted over the Atlantic Ocean, with some of the airborne grains steering toward the northeast. Each year more than 180 million…
The Red Comb: Namib Desert Bears Scar From Meteor Impact
In the vastness of one of the world’s oldest deserts lies a relatively recent geologic feature: the Roter Kamm crater (“Red Comb” in German). An…
Satellite View: Extreme Winter Weather Causes U.S. Blackouts
A potent arctic weather system chilled much of the United States with frigid weather in mid-February 2021, shattering low-temperature records in the middle of the…
Alphabet Soup: Antarctic Icebergs Galore
The waters off of South Georgia—a remote island in the southern Atlantic Ocean—have become an alphabet soup. Pieces from the once-mighty iceberg A68-A continue to…
Rapidly Accelerating Crack: Brunt Ice Shelf Breaking Up With Antarctica This Year?
Two years after the Brunt Ice Shelf seemed poised to produce a berg twice the size of New York City, the ice is still hanging…
A Geologist’s Dream: A Short Journey to the Center of the Earth
A geologist’s dream, Gros Morne National Park is one of the few places where you can set foot on the Earth’s mantle without digging an…
Bolts of Blue: International Space Station Helps Scientists Characterize Elusive “Blue Jets”
Cameras and sensors on the International Space Station have been helping scientists to characterize the natural light shows produced at the tops of thunderstorms. What…
Trading Surfboards for Snowboards: Storms Have Left Abundant Snow Atop Hawaii’s Tallest Volcanic Mountains
Three storms in three weeks have left abundant snow atop Hawaii’s tallest volcanic mountains. Snow is not as rare as you might think in the…
Fallstreak Holes: Unusual Atmospheric Phenomenon Wows People in the Southern United States
In January 2020, the sky over Sweden delivered an early valentine to people on the ground in the form of a heart-shaped hole in the…
Gold Rush in the Peruvian Amazon Leads to Deforestation
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this photograph of numerous gold prospecting pits in eastern Peru. The pits—usually hidden from an astronaut’s…
A Mosaic of Fire Data: Using Radar Data to Decipher How Well Landscapes Recover After Major Fires
Scientists are using radar data to decipher where and how well landscapes recover in the years after major fires. For the past few decades, scientists…
What in the World Are NASA Moon Trees?
Trees connect us scientifically, environmentally, and culturally. We all know that trees are vital to our planet’s health. As trees grow, they absorb carbon from…
Pelican Island: America’s First National Wildlife Refuge
A bird-loving farmer living near Florida’s Pelican Island helped spur the creation of a national system of wildlife refuges. Elaborate feathered hats—sometimes festooned with whole…