August 2016 was the warmest August in 136 years of modern record-keeping, according to a monthly analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Although the seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July, August 2016 wound up tied with July 2016 for the warmest month ever recorded. August 2016’s […]
Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The August 2016 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, what the image shows, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. Your answer can be […]
This summer, recent college graduates and early career professionals launched 30 small research projects as part of NASA’s DEVELOP program. The aim is to use NASA satellite observations of Earth to address an environmental or public policy issue. The young researchers have just 10 weeks to do it! On Aug. 10, 2016, the “DEVELOPers” gathered at NASA Headquarters […]
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity” ― John Muir, Our National Parks Happy Birthday to the U.S. National Park Service! A century after President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill that established the National Park Service, there are […]
On August 13, 2016, we published an image and video showing meteors streaking across the night sky. The perspective is a new one. Instead of looking up from the ground, the camera recorded the action from the vantage point of the International Space Station (ISS). In case you missed it, you can see the image and read […]
While gymnasts leap, cyclists pedal, and divers twirl for Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro, sensors on several NASA Earth Observing satellites are catching glimpses of the city and its surroundings from space. The mix of satellites and sensors in orbit are nearly as varied and diverse as the athletes competing below. The marathoner among […]
The 2015 fire season was the most severe ever observed by NASA Earth Observing System satellites, a new study shows. As we reported in December, 2015 was an intense fire season in Indonesia because the drying effects of El Niño exacerbated seasonal fires lit by growers. Many farmers lost control of fires, which then spread […]
If you are like me, you have probably fantasized about looking down and photographing Earth while floating in the zero gravity of space. I suppose I should never say never, but my chances of becoming an astronaut do look pretty slim at this point in my life. But even if I can’t experience space firsthand, […]
Global atmospheric concentrations of methane are rising—along with scientific scrutiny of this potent greenhouse gas. In March 2016, we published a feature story that took a broad look at why methane matters. Since that story came out, several new studies have been published. But first, some broader context from that feature story… The long-term, global trend for […]
Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The July 2016 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, what the image shows, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. Your answer can be […]
