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Carbon dioxide is the main heat-trapping greenhouse gas that humans emit. How much do you know about it and its impact on global warming and climate change?
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Carbon dioxide quiz - how much do you know?
Quiz: Carbon dioxide
From NASA's Operation IceBridge campaign in Alaska: A high altitude view of Icy Bay, in the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness. Just a century ago, this body of water was covered in ice.
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Icy Bay, Alaska
Icy Bay, Alaska
Arctic sea ice - Climate 365 graphic
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Arctic sea ice - Climate 365 graphic
Graphic: Arctic sea ice loss
This image shows a spinning formation of ice, clouds and low-lying fog off the eastern coast of Greenland. This image was acquired by the Landsat 7 satellite on May 14, 2001. This is a false-color composite image made using infrared, red and green wavelengths.
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Whirlpool
Whirlpool
Now you see it, now you don't - Climate 365 graphic
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Now you see it, now you don't - Climate 365 graphic
Graphic: Dramatic glacier melt
Rivers of ice - Climate365 graphic
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Rivers of ice - Climate365 graphic
Graphic: Rivers of ice
How much do you know about glaciers and ice caps?
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Test your knowledge of the many different varieties of frozen water and how these icy realms are connected to climate change.
Quiz: Ice and glaciers
Video: A visualization of the annual Arctic sea ice "minimum" for each year from 1979 through 2018.
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Annual Arctic sea ice minimum 1979-2018 with area graph
Video: Annual Arctic sea ice minimum 1979-2018 with area graph
Video: total sea level change between 1992 and 2014, based on data collected from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites.
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Video: 22-year sea level rise
Video: 22-year sea level rise
Video: Simulation of global clouds and aerosols from September 1, 2005, to December 31, 2005.
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Video: Simulated clouds and aerosols
Video: Simulated clouds and aerosols
Salinity plays a major role in global ocean circulation and changes in salinity may impact regional and global climates. NASA's Aquarius mission is painting a global picture of our planet's salty waters.
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Salinity plays a major role in global ocean circulation and changes in salinity may impact regional and global climates. NASA's Aquarius mission is painting a global picture of our planet's salty waters. NASA
Video: Aquarius
Warmer Earth, greener north - Climate 365 graphic
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Warmer Earth, greener north - Climate 365 graphic
Graphic: Warmer Earth, greener North
The Mackenzie River in Canada plays a major role in Arctic climate as warmer fresh water mixes with cold seawater.  This image was taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite on July 18, 2017.
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The Mackenzie River in Canada plays a major role in Arctic climate as warmer fresh water mixes with cold seawater.
Mackenzie River
A super high-definition view of how carbon dioxide in the air moves around the world with the winds.
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Super HD view of global carbon dioxide
Video: Super HD view of global carbon dioxide
Along Greenland's western coast, a small field of glaciers surrounds Baffin Bay. This image was acquired by the Landsat 7 satellite on September 3, 2000. It is a false-color composite image made using near-infrared, red and blue wavelengths. 
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Baffin Bay, Greenland
Baffin Bay, Greenland
Global ice viewer interactive
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Global ice viewer interactive
Interactive: Global ice viewer
Video: Global sea level rise is accelerating incrementally over time rather than increasing at a steady rate.
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New study finds sea level rise accelerating
Video: New study finds sea level rise accelerating
Video: Explore how scientists determine glacial speed from space.
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At glacial speed
Video: At glacial speed
A detailed look at Jupiter's and Earth's atmospheres and cores as we unlock mysteries of the solar system.
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Jupiter and Earth: Giant discoveries ahead
Infographic: Jupiter and Earth: Giant discoveries ahead
This chart shows monthly CO2 levels in recent years.
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Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Captured onboard a NASA Operation IceBridge flight to survey glacier change in a warming world, this photograph shows a beach and stream in Russel Fjord, Alaska, near the terminus of Hubbard Glacier.
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Beached bergs in Alaska
Beached bergs in Alaska
The past decade has been the hottest ever recorded since global temperature records began 150 years ago. This video discusses the impacts of the sun's energy, Earth's reflectance and greenhouse gasses on global warming.
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The past decade has been the hottest ever recorded since global temperature records began 150 years ago. This video discusses the impacts of the sun's energy, Earth's reflectance and greenhouse gasses on global warming.
Video: Temperature Puzzle
Earth discovered - Climate 365 graphic
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Earth discovered - Climate 365 graphic
Graphic: Earth, discovered
Perhaps the most impressive of cloud formations, cumulonimbus (from the Latin for “pile” and “rain cloud”) clouds form due to vigorous convection (rising and overturning) of warm, moist and unstable air. Surface air is warmed by the sun-heated ground surface and rises; if sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets will condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. The air mass itself also expands and cools as it rises due to decreasing atmospheric pressure, a process known as adiabatic cooling. This type of convection is common in tropical latitudes year-round and during the summer season at higher latitudes. As water in the rising air mass condenses and changes from a gas to a liquid state, it releases energy to its surroundings, further heating the surrounding air and leading to more convection and rising of the cloud mass to higher altitudes. This leads to the characteristic vertical “towers” associated with cumulonimbus clouds, an excellent example of which is visible in this astronaut photograph. If enough moisture is present to condense and heat the cloud mass through several convective cycles, a tower can rise to altitudes of approximately 10 kilometers at high latitudes and to 20 kilometers in the tropics before encountering a region of the atmosphere known as the tropopause—the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. The tropopause is characterized by a strong temperature inversion. Beyond the tropopause, the air no longer gets colder as altitude increases. The tropopause halts further upward motion of the cloud mass. The cloud tops flatten and spread into an anvil shape, as illustrated by this astronaut photograph. The photo was taken from a viewpoint that was at an angle from the vertical, rather than looking straight down towards the Earth’s surface. The image, taken while the International Space Station was located over western Africa near the Senegal-Mali border, shows a fully formed anvil cloud with numerous smaller cumulonimbus towers rising near it. The high energy levels of these storm systems typically make them hazardous due to associated heavy precipitation, lightning, high wind speeds and possible tornadoes.
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Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
Test your knowledge of ocean salinity and its relationship to climate change.
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Test your knowledge of ocean salinity and its relationship to climate change.
Quiz: Ocean salinity

Explore

Interactives, galleries and apps

Images of Change

Images of Change

Explore a stunning gallery of before-and-after images of Earth from land and space that reveal our home planet in a state of flux.
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Climate Mobile Apps

Climate Mobile Apps

Keep track of Earth's vital signs, see the planet in a state of flux and slow the pace of global warming with NASA's free mobile apps.
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Climate Time Machine

Climate Time Machine

Travel through Earth's recent climate history and see how increasing carbon dioxide, global temperature and sea ice have changed over time.
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Eyes on the Earth

Eyes on the Earth

Track Earth's vital signs from space and fly along with NASA's Earth-observing satellites in an interactive 3D visualization.
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Global Ice Viewer

Global Ice Viewer

Earth's ice cover is shrinking. See how climate change has affected glaciers, sea ice, and continental ice sheets.
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