ECOSTRESS Stories
Climate Change Research
Science in Space: April 2024 Everyone on Earth is touched by the effects of climate change, such as hotter temperatures, shifts in rain patterns, and sea level rise. Collecting climate data helps communities better plan for these changes and build…
NASA Helps Study One of the World’s Most Diverse Ecosystems
NASA satellite and airborne tools aid an international team studying biodiversity on land and in the water around South Africa. An international team of researchers spent October and November 2023 in the field studying one of the world’s most biologically…
NASA Data on Plant ‘Sweating’ Could Help Predict Wildfire Severity
A new study uses data from the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the space station to better understand why some parts of a wildfire burn more intensely than others. Even in drought-stricken California, not all areas face the same degree of wildfire…
NASA’s ECOSTRESS Sees Las Vegas Streets Turn Up the Heat
An instrument on the space station documented how built and natural surfaces responded to record heat in Las Vegas. On June 10, Las Vegas reached a record daily high temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), and temperatures of…
NASA’s ECOSTRESS Detects ‘Heat Islands’ in Extreme Indian Heat Wave
The instrument aboard the space station documents blistering temperatures in urban areas around Delhi during the historic heat wave on the Indian subcontinent. A relentless heat wave has blanketed India and Pakistan since mid-March, causing dozens of deaths, fires, increased…
Evapotranspiration: Watching Over Water Use
As soil and other surfaces dry, water is transferred into the air as water vapor. That is evaporation. Plants actively release water, moving it out of their leaves and stems and into the drier air. That is transpiration. Combine the…
From Seed to Market: NASA Brings Food to the Table
As the seasons turn from spring, to summer, to fall – farmers plant crops, monitor their growth and harvest them. And now increasingly they are using NASA Earth science data to help make their decisions. While NASA satellites primarily support…
Earth Day Connections: NASA Investigates Vegetation
From the vantage point of space, NASA’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites joins with those of partner interagency and international agencies to investigate and illuminate connections between ecosystems that are continents apart, or right next door. With a global perspective, scientists…
20 Years of Observing Earth from the International Space Station
After 20 years of continuous human presence, the International Space Station (ISS) has provided 241 visitors with an extraordinary view of Earth from outer space — one they have shared with the rest of the world. Astronaut photography, formally called…
NASA Funds Eight New Projects Exploring Connections Between the Environment and COVID-19
While scientists around the world are confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, Earth observing satellites continue to orbit and send back images that reveal connections between the pandemic and the environment. “Satellites collect data all the time and…