Island Obliterated: Dramatic Changes at Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai
NASA scientists have been closely watching the evolution of the volcanic island near Tonga since 2015. When a volcano in the South Pacific Kingdom of…
Geography
Sulfur Dioxide From Massive Volcanic Eruption Near Tonga Spreads Over Australia
The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano near Tonga in the South Pacific erupted with such force on January 15, 2022, that it is thought to be the biggest…
Hunga Tonga Island Obliterated – NASA Satellites Capture Massive Blast
Several Earth-observing satellites collected data during and after the potent blast. One of the most potent volcanic eruptions in decades has obliterated a small, uninhabited…
Red Tide off Rio – “It Is Very Worrying”
A dark, rainy spring gave way to a vast, long-lived phytoplankton bloom off the coast of Brazil. Beachgoers in the Brazilian state of Rio de…
Exploring Earth From Space: The Stunningly Beautiful Kangerlussuaq Glacier
The Kangerlussuaq Glacier, one of Greenland’s largest tidewater outlet glaciers, is pictured in this false-color image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission. Meaning ‘large fjord’…
A Wolf Awakens in the Galápagos Islands at Night
The glow of a volcanic eruption in the Galápagos Islands was captured by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP…
Cold Case File: Mysterious Deaths in the Arctic
Through the use of remotely sensed data, scientists were able to understand the mysterious deaths of caribou in Canada and reindeer in the Bering Sea…
Otherworldly Earth: This NASA Photo Isn’t Really Mars, It’s the Libyan Desert
The Libyan Desert is often cited as a Mars analogue. The vast Libyan Desert stretches toward the Mediterranean Sea, which itself fades into the horizon…
Seeing Suomi: Reindeer, Indigenous People, and Modern Meteorology Converge in a Winter Scene From Scandinavia
It is the land of reindeer husbandry—one of the few places on Earth where deer have been domesticated. It is the home of Europe’s only…
Exploring Earth From Space: Kourou – Home to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana [Video]
Ahead of the upcoming Ariane 5 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Kourou – home to Europe’s…
A Deadly Day on Mount Semeru: Destructive Rivers of Debris on Indonesian Volcano
Flows of superheated ash and tephra mixed with rain to create destructive rivers of debris on the Indonesian volcano. Mount Semeru, the tallest and most…
Leaf Hunting in Japan: Momijigari Can Last Into Early December in the Country’s Southern Regions
Leaves have already dropped from the trees across much of the Northern Hemisphere, and once-colorful autumnal landscapes are starting to appear stark, bare, and even…
Magnificent View of Kainji Lake, Nigeria From Space
Kainji Lake, a reservoir on the Niger River in western Nigeria, is featured in this true-color image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Kainji Lake…
Turkey’s Cotton Castle – World’s Largest Deposit of Travertine
The hot springs at Pamukkale, Turkey, have produced the world’s largest deposit of travertine. The hot springs and thermal pools at Pamukkale, Turkey, have been…
Paleozoic Plymouths: Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Plymouth, England, Share a Historical Connection Even Older Than the First Thanksgiving
This autumn marks the 400th anniversary of a 1621 gathering of members of the Wampanoag Nation and European colonists near Plymouth, Massachusetts. Historians still debate the exact…
Daintree: A Rainforest Like No Other – With a Vast Range of Unique Species
The Daintree region of Queensland, Australia, is home to one of the world’s oldest forests and hosts a vast range of unique species. There are…
Burst of New Geochemical Evidence for Viking Travels Exactly 1,000 Years Ago
Novel geochemical dating techniques show that Norse people were in L’Anse aux Meadows exactly 1,000 years ago. Since the 1960s, archaeologists have been gathering physical…
Rocking the Isles of Scilly – Magnificent Image Captured by Astronaut Aboard Space Station
Shallow rock formations and sandbars allow people to occasionally walk between the islands. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shot this photograph that…