Backgrounders
An Earth Observatory Collection
If you want to understand how interconnected our planet is—how patterns and events in one place can affect life half…
Polar sea ice grows and shrinks dramatically each year, driven by seasonal cycles. Habitat for wildlife and harbinger of changing…
Are you distracted by unusual colors in satellite images? They are not photographs, and understanding the difference between them is…
What do you do when presented with a new satellite image? Here's what the Earth Observatory team does to understand…
Satellite research shows that the world's hottest spot changes, though the conditions don't. Think dry, rocky, and dark-colored lands...and cities.
Carbon flows between the atmosphere, land, and ocean in a cycle that encompasses nearly all life and sets the thermostat…
Tiny aerosol particles can be found over oceans, deserts, mountains, forests, ice sheets, and every ecosystem in between. They drift…
Landscape sculptor. Climate driver. Life supporter. Water is the most important molecule on our planet.
Microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web, and they play a key role in…
It is necessary to understand what global warming is, how scientists know it's happening, and how they predict future climate.
Different orbits give satellites different vantage points for viewing Earth. This fact sheet describes the common Earth satellite orbits and…
Attempts of Renaissance astronomers to explain the puzzling path of planets across the night sky led to modern science's understanding…
Describes the net flow of energy through different parts of the Earth system, and explains how the planetary energy budget…
The amount of carbon dioxide that the ocean can take from the atmosphere is controlled by both natural cycles and…
Tropical forests are home to half the Earth's species, and their trees are an immense standing reservoir of carbon. Deforestation…
Remote sensing is the science and art of identifying, observing, and measuring an object without coming into direct contact with…
Coccolithophores are one-celled marine plants that surround themselves with a microscopic plating made of limestone (calcite).
