NASA isn't all about interplanetary exploration; in fact, the agency spends much of its time studying our home planet. This fun whiteboard animation series explains Earth science to the science-curious.
Why Does NASA Study Earth?
Earth is a complex, dynamic system we do not fully understand. To learn more about it, NASA, as the agency with access to space, was tasked with launching the first weather satellite back in 1960. Today, NASA uses satellites, aircraft and even an occasional boat to study our planet's air, land and water. It's called "Earth system science" and we are trying to answer some big questions: How is the global Earth system changing? What causes these changes? How will Earth change in the future? And what we learn benefits society through applications such as weather forecasting, freshwater availability and disaster response.
Links
- NASA Earth Science
- Science Mission Directorate: NASA Earth Science
- Addressing Global Challenges
- NASA’s Mission to Our Home Planet
- Earth Research Findings
- Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program
- NASA Wavelength
My Name Is Aerosol
Aerosols are minute solid and liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere. Examples include desert dust, sea salt from ocean spray, volcanic ash, smoke from wildfires and emissions from the burning of coal and oil. These tiny particles affect weather and climate, cause hazy skies and can pose serious health hazards. Aerosols also can act as sites for chemical reactions, such as those that lead to the destruction of stratospheric ozone, i.e., the ozone hole.
Links
- Aerosols: Tiny Particles, Big Impact
- Just 5 questions: Aerosols
- CALIPSO: A Global Perspective of Clouds and Aerosols from Space
- Simulating the Transport of Aerosols with GEOS-5 (background)
- Earth Expeditions: AERONET tracks aerosols (video)
- Atmospheric Aerosols: What Are They, and Why Are They So Important?
- Clouds and aerosols quiz
- AERONET - Aerosol Robotic Network
- AIRS - Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
- CALIPSO - Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation
- CATS - Cloud-Aerosol Transport System
- MISR - Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer
- MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
- SAGE III – Stratospheric Aerosol Gas Experiment III on ISS
- VIIRS - Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite
- MAIA - Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (future)
- PACE - Pre-Aerosols Clouds and Ocean Ecosystems (future)
- What’s Up in the Atmosphere: Exploring Colors in the Sky
- Ozone: Good Up High, Bad Nearby (middle school)
- NASA Wavelength
- Exploring NASA Aerosol Data in the Classroom (non-NASA)
Cloudy Forecast
Clouds are complicated when it comes to climate science, as they both warm and cool Earth. NASA is studying these atmospheric masses of condensed water vapor with satellites and aircraft, and you can, too, with a citizen science app: http://observer.globe.gov.
Links
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New insights into the role of clouds in Arctic climate change
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Expanding tropics pushing high altitude clouds towards poles
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Send in the Clouds
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The Importance of Understanding Clouds (pdf)
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Clouds in the Balance
- Quiz: Clouds and Aerosols
- CloudSat
- CALIPSO
- CERES
- ORACLES
- The GLOBE Program - Satellite and Cloud Observations On Land (SCOOL) Project
- SpacePlace - What are clouds, anyway?
- NASA Wavelength
Greenland Ice
Located in the Arctic near the North Pole, the island of Greenland is covered by a massive ice sheet three times the size of Texas and a mile deep on average. Greenland is warming almost twice as fast as Antarctica, which is causing the ice to melt and raise global sea levels. NASA is monitoring Greenland’s ice sheet from space to the ocean floor to provide data for scientists studying the global impact of all this melting ice.
Links
- Earth's vital signs: Land ice
- Greenland’s Ice Island Alarm
- Greenland’s undercut glaciers melting faster than thought
- Rivers are draining Greenland quickly
- NASA data peers into Greenland’s ice sheet
- Greenland Melt Ponds (photo story)
- Operation IceBridge
- GRACE
- ICESat 2 (future)
- Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG)
- NASA Wavelength: Greenland
- NASA Wavelength: Arctic
Sea Level Rise
For over 20 years NASA has been tracking the ocean's global surface topography to understand the important role it plays in our lives. Climate change is causing our ocean to warm and glaciers to melt, resulting in sea level rise. Since 1880, the global sea level has risen 8 inches; by 2100, it is projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet.
Links
- Earth's vital signs: Sea level
- National Climate Assessment: Sea Level Rise
- Sea level rise: Global warming's yardstick
- West Antarctic glacier loss appears unstoppable
- Quiz: Sea change
- What Will Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Mean for Barrier Islands?
- Hangout: Sea Level Rise (recorded)
- Jason-3
- OSTM/Jason-2
- GRACE
- Operation IceBridge
- NASA Wavelength
- Ocean Surface Topography Missions Educational Resources
Dishing The Dirt
NASA doesn’t study just the stars and planets; it is also concerned about the soil beneath your feet. Studying the moisture in the top two inches of the soil from space with a satellite named "SMAP" can help weather forecasters predict flash floods, farmers grow more crops and communities plan for drought.
Links
- New satellite data will help farmers facing drought
- Technology innovations spin SMAP into space
- Five things about SMAP
- Dry Times in North America
- Looking for Salt, Seeing Soil Moisture
- SMAP: Notes From the Field
- SMAP – Soil Moisture Active Passive
- Aquarius
- NASA Wavelength
- SMAP Education & Public Outreach Materials
Blowin' In The Wind
Since 1978, NASA has been monitoring ocean winds via scatterometry, the data of which have improved weather and hurricane forecasts and helped us better understand global climate patterns. Knowing which way the wind is blowing over water is critical for industries such as shipping and fishing, and it helps predict unusual weather phenomena such as El Niño.
Links
- NASA's new wind watcher ready for weather forecasters
- Watching the winds where sea meets sky
- Little Islands, Big Wake (Hawaii)
- Study finds climate link to atmospheric-river storms
- What is El Niño?
- Cheyenne & Catarina: Breaking Records for Sailing & Storms
- ISS-RapidScat
- QuickScat
- PO.DAAC – Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center
- NASA Wavelength
- Ocean Motion
Scale In The Sky
The force of gravity not only keeps us from floating away, it also lets NASA study Earth’s water and ice from space. Using a pair of twin satellites named "GRACE," we can monitor where our planet’s water is going, even when it is underground.
Links
- The Gravity of Water
- National Climate Assessment: Water Supply
- Parched West is Using Up Underground Water
- NASA Satellite Data Give Early Clues to Flood Danger
- NASA Helps Pinpoint Glaciers' Role in Sea Level Rise
- Fact Sheet: GRACE
- GRACE - Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
- GRACE Follow-On
- NASA Wavelength
- GRACE Education Resources
Gas Problem
Greenhouse gases are vital to life on Earth, but the growing concentration of certain gases, such as carbon dioxide, is throwing the planet's delicate balance out of whack. NASA is on the case, studying carbon dioxide on a global scale and its effects on our weather and climate.
Links
- Earth's vital signs: Carbon dioxide concentration
- The Carbon Cycle
- Graphic: The relentless rise of carbon dioxide
- The Keeling Curve
- Quiz: Carbon dioxide
- Carbon dioxide and NASA's OCO-2 mission
- OCO-2 - Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2
- AIRS - Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
- MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
- CARVE - Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment
- ASCENDS - Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons
- NASA Wavelength Teaching Bundle: Carbon Cycle and Climate Change (High School)
- NASA Wavelength Teaching Bundle: Matter Cycles Matter — The Case of Carbon (Middle School)
- Climate Kids: Carbon's Travels
Earth Has A Fever
Earth's average temperature has risen over 1º F in the past century. It is projected to rise an additional 3º to 10º over the next 100 years. Data from NASA's global network of satellites, airborne missions and surface-monitoring systems is used to build climate models that help us understand the causes and effects of global warming.
Links
- Earth's vital signs: Global surface temperature
- National Climate Assessment: Recent U.S. Temperature Trends
- National Climate Assessment: Projected Global Temperature
- How Will Global Warming Change Earth?
- Long-term global warming trend sustained in 2013
- Climate change and global warming: The current and future consequences
- Earth's Big Heat Bucket
- Interactive: Climate time machine
- Quiz: Global warming
- OCO-2 - Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2
- AIRS - Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
- MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
- OSTM/Jason-2 - Ocean Surface Topography Mission
- GISTEMP - GISS Surface Temperature Analysis
- NASA Wavelength
- Climate Kids: What is Global Climate Change?
Usual Suspects
Before the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s climate changed due to natural events such as volcanic activity and solar energy variations. These natural events still contribute to climate change today, but their impact is very small compared to the growing levels of greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere by humans burning fossil fuels. NASA’s ongoing Earth science missions, research and computer models help us better understand the long-term global changes occurring today through both natural and manmade causes.
Links
- How is Today's Warming Different from the Past?
- Consensus: 97% of climate scientists agree
- Climate change and global warming: Evidence
- Climate change and global warming: Causes - A blanket around the Earth
- Separating Human and Natural Influences on Climate
- Paleoclimatology
- All NASA Earth science missions
- NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
- NASA Wavelength
Mission To Earth
NASA doesn't explore just outer space! Since 1959, with the launch of the first weather satellite, NASA has been studying our home planet on a global scale. It monitors Earth's vital signs via satellites and airplanes, sends scientists to the far corners of the land and under the ocean, and develops computer models of Earth's climate processes. Why? Because Earth is the only planet that nearly eight billion people call "home sweet home."
Links
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