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How much do you know about glaciers and ice caps?
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Test your knowledge of the ...
Quiz: Ice and glaciers
Warmer Earth, greener north - Climate 365 graphic
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Warmer Earth, greener north...
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 Cana...
Mackenzie River
Video: Winter temperatures are soaring in the Arctic for the fourth winter in a row.
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NASA studies an unusual Arc...
NASA studies an unusual Arctic warming event
Quiz: Our home planet
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Quiz: Our home planet
Quiz: Our home planet
Video: Images created from GRACE data showing changes in Greenland ice mass since 2002.
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Greenland ice loss 2002-2016
Video: Greenland ice loss 2002-2016
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 car...
Video: Super HD view of global carbon dioxide
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 di...
Infographic: Jupiter and Earth: Giant discoveries ahead
Test your knowledge of how Earth is different from other planets, both within our solar system and beyond.
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Test your knowledge of how ...
Quiz: Our world, other worlds
Video: Southern Hemisphere ozone between July 1 and December 31 for selected years between 1979 and 2018.
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Video: Ozonewatch 2018
Video: Ozonewatch 2018
These cloud formations were seen over the western Aleutian Islands. Their color variations are probably due to differences in temperature and in the size of water droplets that make up the clouds. This image was acquired by the Landsat 7 satellite on June 16, 2000.
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Aleutian clouds
Aleutian clouds
Rivers of ice - Climate365 graphic
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Rivers of ice - Climate365 ...
Graphic: Rivers of ice
This chart shows monthly CO2 levels in recent years.
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Video: Carbon Dioxide Conce...
Video: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Video: NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) and Operation IceBridge missions investigate Greenland's thinning ice sheets from above and below.
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Video: Greenland's thinning...
Video: Greenland's thinning ice
Video: The NASA satellite fleet in 2017, from low Earth orbit to the DSCOVR satellite taking in the million-mile view.
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Video: NASA's vantage point...
Video: NASA's vantage point to view Earth
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
Graphic: A simplified animation of the greenhouse effect.
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The Greenhouse Effect
Graphic: The Greenhouse Effect
Land. Water. Fire. Ice. These elements are basic ingredients that make up planet Earth. Take a moment to admire the magnificent spectacle of our stunning home planet from the perspective of space.
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Land. Water. Fire. Ice. The...
Video: Majestic Planet
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
Video: Two key climate change indicators have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016.
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Record-breaking climate tre...
Video: Record-breaking climate trends in 2016
Video: NASA scientists release the first new global map of Earth at night since 2012.
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Video: Lights of human acti...
Video: Lights of human activity shine in NASA's image of Earth at night
We know seas are rising and we know why. The urgent questions are by how much and how quickly.
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Infographic: Sea level rise
Infographic: Sea level rise
NASA's new Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 space satellite will probe the carbon cycle like never before, telling us where the carbon is going and giving us clues as to where we will end up.
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Atmospheric carbon dioxide ...
Graphic: Measuring carbon dioxide from space
NASA Earth Right Now promo
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NASA Earth Right Now promo
Video: NASA Earth Right Now promo
NASA scientists are working to understand if our land and ocean can continue to absorb carbon dioxide at the current rate – and for how long.
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Infographic: Earth's carbon...
Infographic: Earth's carbon cycle is off balance

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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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