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Quiz: Our world, other worlds

Test your knowledge of how Earth is different from other planets, both within our solar system and beyond.

Test your knowledge of how Earth is different from other planets, both within our solar system and beyond.

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NASA Climate Change website

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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 to view Earth
Video: NASA's vantage point to view Earth
NASA Earth Right Now promo
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NASA Earth Right Now promo
Video: NASA Earth Right Now promo
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
Quiz: Carbon and the climate
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Quiz: Carbon and the climate
Quiz: Carbon and the climate
This chart shows monthly CO2 levels in recent years.
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Video: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Video: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
The relentless rise of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
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The inexorable rise of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
Graphic: The relentless rise of carbon dioxide
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
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
This chart shows monthly CO2 levels in recent years.
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Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Test your knowledge about global temperature change and its impact on Earth's climate.
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Test your knowledge about global temperature change and its impact on Earth's climate.
Quiz: Global warming
Video: Two key climate change indicators have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016.
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Record-breaking climate trends in 2016
Video: Record-breaking climate trends in 2016
Track Earth's vital signs and fly along with NASA's Earth-observing satellites.
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Eyes on the Earth
Interactive: Eyes on the Earth
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
Climate time machine interactive
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Climate time machine interactive
Interactive: Climate time machine
Quiz: The air we breathe
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Quiz: The air we breathe
Quiz: The air we breathe
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. 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.
Video: Majestic Planet
Video: The ocean's important role in absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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Ocean circulation plays an important role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere
Video: Ocean circulation plays an important role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere
City vs. desert - Climate365 graphic
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City vs. desert - Climate365 graphic
Graphic: City vs. desert temperatures
Video: NASA scientists release the first new global map of Earth at night since 2012.
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Video: Lights of human activity shine in NASA's image of Earth at night
Video: Lights of human activity shine in NASA's image of Earth at night
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
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
Earth discovered - Climate 365 graphic
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Earth discovered - Climate 365 graphic
Graphic: Earth, discovered
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 is at its highest level in human history and is changing our climate before our eyes. 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.
Graphic: Measuring carbon dioxide from space
Test your knowledge of energy and its role in our climate.
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Test your knowledge of energy and its role in our climate.
Quiz: Energy
Video: how different factors, both natural and industrial, contribute to global warming.
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How global warming stacks up
Video: How global warming stacks up

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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