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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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Graphic: A simplified animation of the greenhouse effect.
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The Greenhouse Effect
Graphic: The Greenhouse Effect
Climate time machine interactive
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Climate time machine intera...
Interactive: Climate time machine
Graphic: Global surface temperature changes versus the Sun's energy that the Earth receives in watts (units of energy) per square meter since 1880.
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Temperature vs Solar Activity
Graphic: Temperature vs Solar Activity
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: Using observations from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) satellite, scientists developed a model of the behavior of carbon in the atmosphere from September 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015.
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Following carbon dioxide th...
Video: Following atmospheric carbon dioxide
This visualization shows carbon emissions from fires from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2018. The color bar reflects the quantity of carbon emitted.
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Carbon Emissions from Fires...
Carbon Emissions from Fires: 2003-2018
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 m...
Quiz: Carbon dioxide
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
Quiz: Our home planet
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Quiz: Our home planet
Quiz: Our home planet
Test your knowledge of sea level rise and its effect on global populations.
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Test your knowledge of sea ...
Quiz: Sea level rise
Quiz: Carbon and the climate
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Quiz: Carbon and the climate
Quiz: Carbon and the climate
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
Head into the field with first responders, fire scientists and forest managers to see what challenges they face and how NASA can help mitigate the effects of longer and more intense fire seasons.
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Operation Earth: Wildfires
Video: 'Operation Earth: Wildfires'
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
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
Video: Southern Hemisphere ozone between July 1 and December 31 for selected years between 1979 and 2018.
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Video: Ozone Watch 2018
Video: Ozone Watch 2018
Test your knowledge of energy and its role in our climate.
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Test your knowledge of ener...
Quiz: Energy
City vs. desert - Climate365 graphic
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City vs. desert - Climate36...
Graphic: City vs. desert temperatures
The IPCC's four key findings
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The IPCC's four key findings
Graphic: The IPCC's four key findings
Earth discovered - Climate 365 graphic
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Earth discovered - Climate ...
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 ...
Graphic: Measuring carbon dioxide from space
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
Video: The ocean's important role in absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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Ocean circulation plays an ...
Video: Ocean circulation plays an important role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere
This animation shows the change in atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels as a result of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions.
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COVID-19 Mitigation Leads t...
COVID-19 Mitigation Leads to Reduced Pollution Associated with Decreased Fossil Fuel Use

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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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