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Every summer, phytoplankton spread across the North Atlantic, with blooms spanning hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles. Blooms off Scandinavia seem to be particularly intense in summer 2018.
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A vortex of lighter green p...
Summer blooms in the Baltic
Visualization of globally averaged July temperatures since 1880, with July 2023 being the warmest month on record.
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Video: July 2023 Record Hig...
Video: July 2023 Record High Global Temperatures
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.
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On Thin Ice: Why Ice Loss M...
On Thin Ice: Why Ice Loss Matters
A graphic shows that when fossil fuel-derived greenhouse gas emissions stop, global warming stops within a few years.
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Graphic: When Emissions Sto...
Graphic: When Emissions Stop, Warming Stops
This animation shows how global sea levels have risen more than 80 millimeters (3.15 inches) over the past three decades, which is like covering the U.S. in about 4 meters (about 13 feet) of water over that period.
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Animation: Global Sea Level...
Animation: Global Sea Level Change (1992-2017)
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
Video: Images created from GRACE data showing changes in Antarctic ice mass since 2002.
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Antarctic ice loss 2002-2016
Video: Antarctic ice loss 2002-2016
Test your knowledge of how Earth is different from other planets, both within our solar system and beyond.
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Test your knowledge of how ...
Quiz: Our world, other worlds
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
Test your knowledge about global temperature change and its impact on Earth's climate.
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Test your knowledge about g...
Quiz: Global warming
Quiz: Carbon and the climate
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Quiz: Carbon and the climate
Quiz: Carbon and the climate
Visualization of 30 named storms during the 2020 hurricane season
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Video: 2020 Hurricane Season
Video: 2020 Hurricane Season
Video: Scientists combined an array of NASA satellite observations of Earth with data on human activities to map locations where freshwater is changing around the globe and why.
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For 15 years, GRACE tracked...
Video: For 15 years, GRACE tracked freshwater movements around the world
Video: A visualization of the annual Arctic sea ice "minimum" for each year from 1979 through 2022.
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Annual Arctic sea ice minim...
Video: Annual Arctic Sea Ice Minimum 1979-2022 with Area Graph
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
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
This image shows a spinning formation of ice, clouds and low-lying fog off the eastern coast of Greenland. This image was acquired by the Landsat 7 satellite on May 14, 2001. This is a false-color composite image made using infrared, red and green wavelengths.
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Whirlpool
Whirlpool
Video: total sea level change between 1992 and 2014, based on data collected from the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 and Jason-2 satellites.
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Video: 22-year sea level rise
Video: 22-year sea level rise
This movie shows the evolution of several regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet between 2008 and 2300 based on three different climate scenarios.
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Greenland Ice Sheet: Three ...
Greenland Ice Sheet: Three Futures
Color-coded map of changing global surface temperature anomalies from 1880 through 2022. 
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Graphic: Global Warming fro...
Video: Global Warming from 1880 to 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.
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Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
Cumulonimbus cloud over Africa
Quiz: Our home planet
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Quiz: Our home planet
Quiz: Our home planet
Video: Global sea level rise is accelerating incrementally over time rather than increasing at a steady rate.
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New study finds sea level r...
Video: New study finds sea level rise accelerating
This documentary traces the efforts of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to measure greenhouse gases.
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JPL and the Space Age: Sky ...
JPL and the Space Age: Sky High (Video)
Climate time machine interactive
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Climate time machine intera...
Interactive: Climate time machine

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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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