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Quiz: Our world, other worlds

Test your knowledge of how Earth is different from other planets, both within our solar system and beyond.

Test your knowledge of how Earth is different from other planets, both within our solar system and beyond.

You can browse a gallery containing this quiz and others here.

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NASA Climate Change website

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Los aerosoles son diminutas partículas sólidas y líquidas suspendidas en la atmósfera.
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Me llamo Aerosol
Me llamo Aerosol
Test your knowledge of sea level rise and its effect on global populations.
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Test your knowledge of sea ...
Quiz: Sea level rise
Graphic: Global surface temperature changes versus the Sun's energy that Earth receives in watts (units of energy) per square meter since 1880.
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Temperature vs Solar Activity
Graphic: Temperature vs Solar Activity
A detailed look at Jupiter's and Earth's atmospheres and cores as we unlock mysteries of the solar system.
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Jupiter and Earth: Giant di...
Infographic: Jupiter and Earth: Giant discoveries ahead
This animation shows how various temperature records and Arctic sea ice have changed between 1850 and 2018 from human and natural drivers of climate change.
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Human and Natural Drivers o...
Human and Natural Drivers of Climate Change (1850-2018)
Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, have made Earth’s “puffy coat” warmer.
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Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Tra...
Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Traps Heat, Like a Puffy Coat
A super high-definition view of how carbon dioxide in the air moves around the world with the winds.
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Super HD view of global car...
Video: Super HD view of global carbon dioxide
Perhaps the most impressive of cloud formations, cumulonimbus (from the Latin for “pile” and “rain cloud”) clouds form due to vigorous convection (rising and overturning) of warm, moist and unstable air. Surface air is warmed by the sun-heated ground surface and rises; if sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets will condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. The air mass itself also expands and cools as it rises due to decreasing atmospheric pressure, a process known as adiabatic cooling. This type of convection is common in tropical latitudes year-round and during the summer season at higher latitudes. As water in the rising air mass condenses and changes from a gas to a liquid state, it releases energy to its surroundings, further heating the surrounding air and leading to more convection and rising of the cloud mass to higher altitudes. This leads to the characteristic vertical “towers” associated with cumulonimbus clouds, an excellent example of which is visible in this astronaut photograph. If enough moisture is present to condense and heat the cloud mass through several convective cycles, a tower can rise to altitudes of approximately 10 kilometers at high latitudes and to 20 kilometers in the tropics before encountering a region of the atmosphere known as the tropopause—the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. The tropopause is characterized by a strong temperature inversion. Beyond the tropopause, the air no longer gets colder as altitude increases. The tropopause halts further upward motion of the cloud mass. The cloud tops flatten and spread into an anvil shape, as illustrated by this astronaut photograph. The photo was taken from a viewpoint that was at an angle from the vertical, rather than looking straight down towards the Earth’s surface. The image, taken while the International Space Station was located over western Africa near the Senegal-Mali border, shows a fully formed anvil cloud with numerous smaller cumulonimbus towers rising near it. The high energy levels of these storm systems typically make them hazardous due to associated heavy precipitation, lightning, high wind speeds and possible tornadoes.
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Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
This video shows the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) during a single calendar year.
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Global Carbon Dioxide: 2020...
Global Carbon Dioxide: 2020-2021
Video: how different factors, both natural and industrial, contribute to global warming.
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How global warming stacks up
Video: How global warming stacks up
This visualization shows carbon emissions from fires from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2018. The color bar reflects the quantity of carbon emitted.
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Carbon Emissions from Fires...
Carbon Emissions from Fires: 2003-2018
A graphic briefly explains the relationship between volcanoes and climate change.
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Graphic: Volcanoes and Clim...
Graphic: Volcanoes and Climate Change
Video: The ocean's important role in absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
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Ocean circulation plays an ...
Video: Ocean circulation plays an important role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere
The relentless rise of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
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The inexorable rise of carb...
Graphic: The relentless rise of carbon dioxide
Desde 1978, la NASA ha estado monitoreando los vientos oceánicos a través de la dispersometría, cuyos datos han mejorado los pronósticos meteorológicos y de huracanes y nos han ayudado a comprender mejor los patrones climáticos globales.
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Los vientos oceánicos
Los vientos oceánicos
Video: Using observations from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) satellite, scientists developed a model of the behavior of carbon in the atmosphere from September 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015.
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Following carbon dioxide th...
Video: Following atmospheric carbon dioxide
Head into the field with first responders, fire scientists and forest managers to see what challenges they face and how NASA can help mitigate the effects of longer and more intense fire seasons.
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Operation Earth: Wildfires
Video: 'Operation Earth: Wildfires'
NASA's new Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 space satellite will probe the carbon cycle like never before, telling us where the carbon is going and giving us clues as to where we will end up.
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Atmospheric carbon dioxide ...
Graphic: Measuring carbon dioxide from space
Video: Simulation of global clouds and aerosols from September 1, 2005, to December 31, 2005.
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Video: Simulated clouds and...
Video: Simulated clouds and aerosols
Video: Southern Hemisphere ozone between July 1 and December 31 for selected years between 1979 and 2018.
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Video: Ozone Watch 2018
Video: Ozone Watch 2018
Climate time machine interactive
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Climate time machine intera...
Interactive: Climate time machine
Video: The NASA satellite fleet in 2017, from low Earth orbit to the DSCOVR satellite taking in the million-mile view.
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Video: NASA's vantage point...
Video: NASA's vantage point to view Earth
This animated map shows monthly temperature anomalies (changes from an average) from summer 1880 to summer 2023 measured with respect to NASA's 1951-1980 baseline period.
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Video: Summer 2023 Record H...
Video: Summer 2023 Record High Global Temperatures
Las nubes son complicadas cuando se trata de la ciencia del clima, ya que calientan y enfrían la Tierra.
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Las nubes.
Las nubes
Trick or treat? How many pumpkins would it take to equal the mass of the world’s annual fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions? Hint: This isn’t a trick 👻
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Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Emi...
Graphic: Carbon Dioxide Emissions as Pumpkins

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Interactives, galleries and apps

Images of Change

Images of Change

Explore a stunning gallery of before-and-after images of Earth from land and space that reveal our home planet in a state of flux.
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Climate Time Machine

Climate Time Machine

Travel through Earth's recent climate history and see how increasing carbon dioxide, global temperature and sea ice have changed over time.
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Eyes on the Earth

Eyes on the Earth

Track Earth's vital signs from space and fly along with NASA's Earth-observing satellites in an interactive 3D visualization.
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Global Ice Viewer

Global Ice Viewer

Earth's ice cover is shrinking. See how climate change has affected glaciers, sea ice, and continental ice sheets.
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