• Smoke goes around the world

    Wildfire smoke is a combination of gases and aerosols – tiny solid and liquid particles suspended in air – and can have an effect on cloud formation, atmospheric cooling and heating, and human health, NASA's Earth Observatory explains. The animated series of images

  • Green: Vegetation on planet Earth

    Although 75% of the planet is a relatively unchanging ocean of blue, the remaining 25% of Earth's surface is a dynamic green. NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite is able to detect these subtle differences in greenness. Those resources highlight our ever-changing

  • New satellite views of Earth by night

    The Earth never sleeps. The night is nowhere near as dark as most of us think. In fact, Earth is never really dark; it twinkles with lights from humans and nature. Away from human settlements, light still shines – wildfires and volcanoes rage, oil and gas wells burn