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…
Earth Observatory News
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…
Gold Mining in Russia’s Central Aldan Ore District Seen From Space
In places where concentrations of the precious metal have been discovered, mining operations are large enough to be seen from space. Gold has been found…
Two Spacecraft Designed to Study the Sun Also Got Some Recent Peeks at Earth and Other Planets
Looking Around the Neighborhood Though they focus on the star at the center of our solar system, some Sun-watching spacecraft recently captured unique views of…
Bustling Persian Gulf at Night – Spied by Astronaut on Space Station
The Persian Gulf forms the center of this photograph taken by an astronaut from the International Space Station (ISS). The nighttime lights mark the larger…
Warming Seas Are Undercutting Sverdrup Glacier in Northwest Greenland
Warming seas are accelerating the retreat of Greenland’s coastal glaciers. Sverdrup Glacier in northwest Greenland is pretty average. It is a textbook example of the…
Mysterious Hovering Clouds Spotted Over the Transantarctic Mountains
Smooth, stationary clouds are occasionally reported by the public as sightings of “unidentified flying objects.” But these clouds are not as mysterious as they might…
Potent Atmospheric Rivers Soak the Pacific Northwest
In mid-January 2021, the Pacific Northwest of North America was soaked by several episodes of heavy rainfall, leading to widespread flooding and landslides. In mid-January…
From Automobiles to Armstrong: Cleveland’s Urban Layout Has Evolved As Time and Technology Have Advanced
Cleveland, Ohio, and its expansive suburbs stretch inland from Lake Erie in this slightly oblique photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station…
Changing Atlanta: Martin Luther King Jr. Came of Age in One of the Fastest Growing Cities in the United States
When Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in a two-story house in Atlanta, the city had 715,000 residents. (His father changed his…
Earth’s Global Warming Trend Continues: 2020 Tied for Warmest Year on Record
Earth’s average temperature has risen more than 1.2°C (2°F) since the late 19th century. Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 for…
Seawater Cutting Like a Knife Through Enormous Iceberg: A-68A Being Sliced to Pieces
Seawater has been cutting like a knife through A-68A, the enormous Antarctic iceberg drifting in the southern Atlantic Ocean. On January 11, 2021, the Visible…
Mount Fuji’s Missing Snow – Japan’s Iconic Mountain Looks Different
The lack of snow cover in December left Japan’s iconic mountain looking a little different than usual. Even as record snowfall has clobbered Japan’s western…
Massive Snowfall Blankets Spain – Heaviest Snowfall in the Region in 50 Years
Meteorologists declared it the largest snowfall in the region since 1971. Between January 7–9, 2021, a moist, low-pressure weather system over the ocean collided with…
Reshaping Coastal Louisiana: Barataria Bay Is Slowly Slipping Away
While there are efforts to reinforce its beaches and marshes, some of Barataria Bay is slowly slipping away. Sandwiched between the Mississippi River and Bayou…
Spied by Satellite: Phytoplankton Factory in the Argentine Sea
In spring and summer, conditions are often just right for populations of the plant-like organisms explode into enormous blooms. The Goldilocks zone typically refers to…
