Prolonged drought has been affecting the Rio Grande basin for several years. A Satellite loop released on September 15, 2026, showed the declining water levels in the Elephant Butte Reservoir and the smaller Caballo Reservoir to its south over the last 15 years. NASA had earlier reported that the reservoir stood at 1.4% of capacity on July 27, its lowest level since 1971.
A submarine eruption that began on May 8, 2026, continues in the central Bismarck Sea, about 130 km (81 miles) southeast of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. The eruption revealed a previously unmapped underwater volcano, now provisionally named Titan Ridge Volcano, in a remote and tectonically active area of the Pacific Ocean.
Explosive activity at Sheveluch volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, produced a volcanic ash plume rising to approximately 10.4 km (34 000 feet) altitude at 11:20 UTC on March 16, 2026, drifting east across the North Pacific. Satellite imagery from Himawari-9 detected the ash cloud moving east at around 110 km/h (70 mph). The Aviation Color Code remains at Orange.
Thick Saharan dust from North Africa covered parts of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and neighboring countries on March 4, 2026, producing hazy skies, orange deposits, and moderate-to-poor air quality. Forecasts show the plume spreading toward central Europe before dispersing after March 6.
Prolonged rainfall and cross-border inflows have triggered a state of emergency across northeastern Greece, where severe flooding along the Evros River in February 2026 submerged tens of thousands of acres of farmland and destroyed wheat, barley, lentil, and alfalfa crops. No fatalities have been confirmed, but authorities warn of extensive economic losses for the region’s farm sector.
Satellite monitoring confirms that Home Reef volcano in Tonga remains active nearly two months after its latest eruption began on December 17, 2025. The eruption has expanded the island’s surface area by nearly 8 ha (20 acres) as lava flows extended its margins east, south, northwest, and north.
The shadow of the February 17, 2026, annular solar eclipse was captured in Meteosat satellite imagery from 12:00 to 14:10 UTC as it swept across the southwestern Indian Ocean, partially dimming Tropical Cyclone Gezani west of Madagascar.
Satellite images captured a massive ice crack of over 128 km (80 miles) in length forming over Lake Erie on February 8, 2026, after it nearly froze over for the first time in two decades.
A mid-December winter storm produced an unusually extensive snow cover across Mount Teide, a high-altitude volcano located near 28°N latitude in the subtropical eastern Atlantic. False-color satellite imagery acquired on December 15, 2025, shows snow spread widely across summit slopes and interior plateaus of Teide National Park following the passage of Storm Emilia, a rare…
Record-breaking rainfall in Death Valley, California, has brought the ancient lake to life, according to satellite images issued by NASA on December 12, 2025.
