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Rivers of ice - Climate365 graphic
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Rivers of ice - Climate365 graphic
Graphic: Rivers of ice
NASA's Landsat 8 satellite captured water mixing between Georgia's ick-colored Suwannee River and the deep blue Gulf of Mexico.
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Suwannee blackwater river meets the sea
Suwannee blackwater river meets the sea
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 Earth is different from other planets, both within our solar system and beyond.
Quiz: Our world, other worlds
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 ice
Video: Greenland's thinning ice
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
Video: Images created from GRACE data showing changes in Antarctic ice mass since 2002.
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Antarctic ice loss 2002-2016
Video: Antarctic ice loss 2002-2016
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 through the atmosphere
Video: Following atmospheric carbon dioxide
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
With autumn's arrival, chlorophyll begins to cede its dominance in the photosynthetic process, revealing yellow and orange tones on land, while in the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton pigments highlight different water masses and current systems.
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Changing colors across land and ocean are revealed as autumn comes to North America. As chlorophyll begins to cede its dominance to other pigments in the photosynthetic process, yellow and orange tones are revealed. Meanwhile, in the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton pigments highlight different water masses and current systems.
Photosynthetic pigments by land and sea
Quiz: The air we breathe
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Quiz: The air we breathe
Quiz: The air we breathe
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
Climate time machine interactive
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Climate time machine interactive
Interactive: Climate time machine
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
Global ice viewer interactive
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Global ice viewer interactive
Interactive: Global ice viewer
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
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 energy and its role in our climate.
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Test your knowledge of energy and its role in our climate.
Quiz: Energy
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
​ A spring phytoplankton bloom off of the Alaskan coast.
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Churning in the Chukchi Sea
Churning in the Chukchi Sea
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
NASA scientists say 2013 tied for the seventh warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures.
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Video: Global Temperature Variation
Video: Global Temperature Variation
A changing landscape in the heart of Madagascar, showing drainage into the sea in the Betsiboka Estuary due to decimation of rainforests and coastal mangroves. 
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The heart of Madagascar
The heart of Madagascar
Curling snow drifts are magnified by the terrain around the 1,400 mile Dnieper River, flowing from Russia to the Black Sea.
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The wild, frozen Dnieper River
The wild, frozen Dnieper River
This chart shows monthly CO2 levels in recent years.
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Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Concentration
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

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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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