NASA's views of Earth from space

NASA

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station photographed these striking views of Pavlof Volcano on May 18, 2013.

Situated in the Aleutian Arc about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage, Pavlof began erupting on May 13, 2013. The volcano jetted lava into the air and spewed an ash cloud 20,000 feet high.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

The dark waters of San Francisco Bay are outlined by the lights of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

The Aorounga impact structure in northern Chad is 12.6 kilometers in diameter. This eroded remnant of a crater in Africa’s Sahara Desert is estimated to be less than 345 million years old.

Large masses of sand move across highways or into farm fields and cause great environmental damage and cost. With comparative imagery, it is now possible to predict when dunes are likely to cause such damage so that mitigation efforts can be put in place.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

A late-summer “whiting event” visible across much of Lake Ontario.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

In February 2013, a nor’easter pounded the eastern United States, doing particular damage along the coast of New England. Wind gusts reached hurricane-force in several coastal states, raising a four to five-foot storm surge on top of astronomically high tides. The result was extreme beach erosion along the coast of Massachusetts and other coastal areas.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

A plume wafting from the West Fork Complex fire, which was burning explosively in southwestern Colorado near Pagosa Springs. Scientists monitor pyrocumulus clouds closely because they can inject smoke and pollutants high into the atmosphere. As those pollutants are dispersed by wind, they can affect air quality over broad areas.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

On May 18, 1980, a volcanic eruption obliterated the landscape around Mount St. Helens. Entire forests were mowed down by the blast wave. The land surface was sterilized by heat and noxious gas, and then buried under tens of meters of ash, mud, and rock. Nearly every living creature perished within a few miles of the collapsed mountain. But some traces of life survived beneath the debris.

The area became a natural observatory for studying how plants, animals, and other forms of life could literally rise from the ashes and re-colonize a patch of land.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

On May 20, 2013, a supercell thunderstorm in central Oklahoma spawned a destructive tornado that passed just south of Oklahoma City.

Debris from the tornado fell as far as 100 miles away, reaching the city of Tulsa.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of dust from North Africa swirling over the Mediterranean Sea on May 29, 2013.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

In one patch of desert, where the Rio Grande makes a border between the United States and Mexico, the Landsats have captured hundreds of images. These photo-like, natural-color images show fields turning green and brown with the season; new urban and suburban developments expanding around El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Satellite Images of Earth

NASA

NASA scientists have discovered a new way to use satellites to measure what's occurring inside Earth's land plants at a cellular level. During photosynthesis, plants emit what is called fluorescence - a form of light invisible to the naked eye but detectable by satellites orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth. NASA scientists established a method to turn this satellite data into global maps of the subtle phenomenon in more detail than ever before.