Skip Navigation
menu close modal

MULTIMEDIA

Quiz: Global warming

Test your knowledge about global temperature change and its impact on Earth's climate.

Test your knowledge about global temperature change and its impact on Earth's climate.

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

Credit

NASA Climate Change website

Preview

Related

Oceanographer Josh Willis discusses the heat capacity of water, performs an experiment to demonstrate heat capacity using a water balloon and describes how water's ability to store heat affects Earth's climate.
More
Oceanographer Josh Willis d...
Video: Oceans of Climate Change
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.
More
Following carbon dioxide th...
Video: Following atmospheric carbon dioxide
This view of Earth from space is a fusion of science and art, drawing on data from multiple satellite missions and the talents of NASA scientists and graphic artists.
More
Twin Blue Marbles
Twin Blue Marbles
Salinity plays a major role in global ocean circulation and changes in salinity may impact regional and global climates. NASA's Aquarius mission is painting a global picture of our planet's salty waters.
More
Salinity plays a major role...
Video: Aquarius
Antes de la Revolución Industrial, el clima de la Tierra cambiaba debido a eventos naturales como la actividad volcánica y las variaciones de la energía solar.
More
Los sospechosos de siempre
Los sospechosos de siempre
Video: NASA scientists release the first new global map of Earth at night since 2012.
More
Video: Lights of human acti...
Video: Lights of human activity shine in NASA's image of Earth at night
A quick guide to the science behind sea level rise from an ice-loss perspective, what it means in relatable terms and why it matters.
More
On Thin Ice: Why Ice Loss M...
On Thin Ice: Why Ice Loss Matters
Climate time machine interactive
More
Climate time machine intera...
Interactive: Climate time machine
This movie shows the evolution of several regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet between 2008 and 2300 based on three different climate scenarios.
More
Greenland Ice Sheet: Three ...
Greenland Ice Sheet: Three Futures
Video: The ocean's important role in absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
More
Ocean circulation plays an ...
Video: Ocean circulation plays an important role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere
Graphic: Global surface temperature changes versus the Sun's energy that Earth receives in watts (units of energy) per square meter since 1880.
More
Temperature vs Solar Activity
Graphic: Temperature vs Solar Activity
Visualization of globally averaged July temperatures since 1880, with July 2023 being the warmest month on record.
More
Video: July 2023 Record Hig...
Video: July 2023 Record High Global Temperatures
A visualization shows global temperature changes per latitude zone from 1880 to 2022.
More
Video: Global Warming Broke...
Video: Global Warming Broken Down by Latitude Zone (1880-2022)
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.
More
Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
Color-coded map of changing global surface temperature anomalies from 1880 through 2022. 
More
Graphic: Global Warming fro...
Video: Global Warming from 1880 to 2022
Video: total sea level change between 1992 and 2014, based on data collected from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites.
More
Video: 22-year sea level rise
Video: 22-year sea level rise
This visualization presents methane emissions across the United States for the year 2012.
More
Video: Methane Emissions in...
Video: Methane Emissions in the United States
NASA scientists are working to understand if our land and ocean can continue to absorb carbon dioxide at the current rate – and for how long.
More
Infographic: Earth's carbon...
Infographic: Earth's carbon cycle is off balance
NASA explores. From its earliest days of sounding rockets and balloon-borne instruments, to Apollo and Hubble and missions to Mars. This mission of exploration has also always focused on our own corner of the universe, Earth - the home frontier. Earth is still the only planet we've ever been to, as this video explains.
More
NASA explores. From its ear...
Home Frontier
We know seas are rising and we know why. The urgent questions are by how much and how quickly.
More
Infographic: Sea level rise
Infographic: Sea level rise
Ice covers 10 percent of Earth's surface and helps moderate the planet's temperature. Glaciers and ice sheets around the world are melting at an alarming rate. By keeping an eye on Earth's ice from space, NASA satellites help us understand the global effects of climate change.
More
Ice covers 10 percent of Ea...
Video: Frozen Earth
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.
More
Atmospheric carbon dioxide ...
Graphic: Measuring carbon dioxide from space
Las nubes son complicadas cuando se trata de la ciencia del clima, ya que calientan y enfrían la Tierra.
More
Las nubes.
Las nubes
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.
More
Human and Natural Drivers o...
Human and Natural Drivers of Climate Change (1850-2018)
Quiz: The air we breathe
More
Quiz: The air we breathe
Quiz: The air we breathe

Explore

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.
More
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.
More
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.
More
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.
More