Earth | SpaceRef

Earth TOP STORY

U.S. Water Storage Maps Show Improvement

Water Storage Maps Show Improvement

In 2012, the continental United States suffered through one of its worst droughts in decades. Nearly 80 percent of the nation's farm, orchard, and grazing land was affected in some way, and 28 percent experienced extreme to exceptional drought. As another summer arrives in North America, surface water conditions have improved in many places, but drought has persisted or deepened in others. Underground, the path out of drought is much slower.

Full Story

Second Atlantic Season Tropical Depression Forms

Tropical Depression 2 formed in the western Caribbean Sea during the early afternoon hours (Eastern Daylight Time) on June 17. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured an image of the storm as it consolidated enough to become a tropical depression while approaching the coast of Belize.

A Better Eye on Reefs

Landsat 8 takes a look at Princess Charlotte Bay, Australia, where reefs, river plumes, and sandy islands test the satellite's ability to observe the intersection of land and sea.

Warm Ocean Causing Most Antarctic Ice Shelf Mass Loss

Ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent's ice shelf mass loss, a new study by NASA and university researchers has found.

NSF Plans to Expand McMurdo Base, Antarctica

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a master plan for updating its largest Antarctic research station, McMurdo, on Ross Island, that will, among other goals, increase energy efficiency, along with logistical and resource efficiency.

Detailed Satellite Imagery of Severe Storm

A powerful storm swept across the Midwestern U.S. late on June 12, 2012 and is continuing to move across the Mid-Atlantic. Around 0700z (3am EDT), the Suomi NPP satellite passed over the storm as the most intense areas were along the Ohio-West Virginia-Pennsylvania border.

NASA Finds Tropical Depression Yagi's Strongest Side, Now Waning

Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite on June 11 showed that Tropical Depression Yagi's strongest quadrant was east of its center. However, since them the storm has weakened after running into an upper-level low pressure area and cooler waters.

NASA Satellite Sees Tropical Storm Yagi Just South of Japan

Tropical Storm Yagi is not expected to make landfall in Japan, but NASA satellite imagery showed that the storm was just south of the big island.

NASA's Iowa Flood Study Hangout

NASA experts and guests to discuss what they've seen so far in the field, what goes into a flood forecast, how scientists are improving them with better rain measurements, and the role of satellites for addressing flood hazards globally.

Is a Sleeping Climate Giant Stirring in the Arctic?

The Arctic permafrost contains vast amount off organic carbon stored over millennia. A NASA program, CARVE, is testing a hypotheses that Arctic carbon reservoirs are vulnerable to climate warming. Will these reservoirs be released? And what happens if these vast amount of stored carbon are released?

NASA Sees Tropical Storm Yagi Spinning in Western Pacific Ocean

Tropical Storm Yagi developed over the weekend of June 8 and 9 in the Western North Pacific from Tropical Depression 03W and NASA satellites captured the storm coming together. NASA's TRMM satellite measured rainfall rates within the storm and found the heaviest rain falling mostly south of the center.

App Camp creates new ideas for using satellite data

Using satellite data to find areas of thermal updraft to fly gliders is just one of the innovative ideas developed over the week-long 'camp' to help bring Earth observation to the everyday user. In its second year, the App Camp saw 20 developers from 16 countries convene at ESA's ESRIN centre in Frascati, Italy.

Earth From Space: Thirsty Land Okavango Delta

This image is a compilation of three images from Envisat's radar and shows where southwestern Africa's Okavango River empties into the inland Okavango Delta in northern Botswana.

Tropical Storm Andrea June 7, 2013

This image of tropical storm Andrea was assembled from data collected by NOAA's GOES-14 satellite at 8:31 a.m. EDT on June 7, when the storm's center was about 35 miles north-northwest of Charleston, S.C.

NASA Satellite Reveals Tropical Storm Andrea's Towering Thunderstorms

Towering thunderstorms are a sign of a strong tropical cyclone, and NASA's TRMM satellite spotted thunderstorms reaching heights of almost 9 miles high within Tropical Storm Andrea. NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared view that revealed very cold cloud top temperatures that coincided with the towering thunderstorms that TRMM saw.

NASA Builds Sophisticated Earth-observing Microwave Radiometer

A NASA team delivered in May a sophisticated microwave radiometer specifically designed to overcome the pitfalls that have plagued similar Earth-observing instruments in the past.

NASA Satellite Sees Strong Thunderstorms in Developing Gulf Low

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over low pressure System 91L in the Gulf of Mexico and captured infrared imagery that revealed a lot of uplift and strong thunderstorms in the eastern part of the storm despite a poorly organized circulation. NOAA's GOES-East satellite showed the large extent of the low pressure area stretching from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to Florida.

NASA Spacecraft Captures Swath of Destruction from Deadly Oklahoma Tornado

The Newcastle-Moore EF-5 tornado ripped through central Oklahoma on May 20, 2013, killing 24 people and leaving behind more than $2 billion in damage.

NASA's IceBridge Mission Contributes to New Map of Antarctica

A new dataset called Bedmap2 gives a clearer picture of Antarctica from the ice surface down to the bedrock below. Bedmap2 is a significant improvement on the previous collection of Antarctic data--known as Bedmap--that was produced more than 10 years ago.