Bolts light up Earth’s atmosphere 4 million times a day. Scientists hope to observe a few.
Published Mar 23, 2014
The Green River in eastern Utah once carved soft sediment into meanders on a floodplain. Then the land and mountains rose and the river dug deep, preserving those meanders in stone.
Published Mar 17, 2014
Southwesterly winds pull strands of land-fast ice out into the lake from Washington Island and Detroit Island.
Published Mar 10, 2014
Straddling the southern Andes Mountains in Chile and Argentina, these glaciers have thinned significantly in the past four decades.
Published Mar 3, 2014
Night lights illustrate dramatically the relative economic activity of cities and countries.
Published Feb 24, 2014
An astronaut snapped this image of lines of gas flares at an oilfield in southern Iraq at night.
Published Feb 22, 2014
This small town at the foot of the Swartberg Mountains is a productive oasis in the Karoo semidesert, rich with olive groves, sheep and ostrich ranches, and (lately) tourists.
Published Feb 20, 2014
Astronauts who held the Olympic flame just three months ago now look down on it from space.
Published Feb 17, 2014
Small islands in the Crozet Archipelago of the southern Indian Ocean disturb the air flow above.
Published Feb 10, 2014
Two volcanic calderas dominate Nicaragua’s Chiltepe Peninsula, not far from Managua.
Published Feb 3, 2014
The Island of Hawaii is a vast canvas of environments from desert shores to rain forests to frozen mountain heights.
Published Jan 29, 2014
Dry mesas and dunes, as well as rare clouds, give color and texture to a plateau in the Sahara.
Published Jan 27, 2014
Twenty months after a slurry of debris swamped villages and killed dozens of people, scientists have pieced together the events that caused the deadly flood.
Published Jan 24, 2014
The cone-shaped summit is dissected by radial channels that appear like the spokes of a wheel.
Published Jan 20, 2014
The meandering Missouri River doubled back on itself and formed this U-shaped lake.
Published Jan 13, 2014
It is the capital of Utah, headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and “the crossroads of the West.”
Published Jan 6, 2014
The human landscape of Arabian cities stands out clearly when you see the lights.
Published Dec 30, 2013
You know the photo, but do you know the story behind it? A new video explains the circumstances that gave rise to the famous Apollo “Earthrise” photo while recreating the experience with modern data.
Published Dec 24, 2013Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water Snow and Ice Remote Sensing
Though the volcano has not erupted for thousands of years, scientific evidence suggests it could become active again someday.
Published Dec 23, 2013
Four volcanoes double as islands in Alaska’s Aleutian chain.
Published Dec 16, 2013
Nelson Mandela took the long view of his country and world, as does this photo from the space station.
Published Dec 15, 2013
Photographs taken by astronauts on the ISS in 2003 and 2013 show the evolution of a dune field in Chad.
Published Dec 9, 2013
An astronaut captured this view of an eruption plume amidst a chain of volcanoes on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
Published Dec 2, 2013
Though there are no historical accounts, geologic evidence suggests an eruption about 3,100 years ago affected Pre-Columbian settlements in Mexico.
Published Nov 25, 2013
The second largest container port in France is also a World Heritage Site for its unique concrete buildings.
Published Nov 18, 2013
One of Earth’s richest borate deposits is at the center of the largest open-pit mine in California.
Published Nov 11, 2013
A photograph by an astronaut on the International Space Station shows a progressively shrinking glacier in the North Patagonian Icefield.
Published Nov 4, 2013
The largest and most active of several volcanic centers on New Zealand’s North Island is also the island’s highest mountain.
Published Oct 28, 2013
City lights reflect some of the landscape features that determine urban growth patterns in the region.
Published Oct 21, 2013
City lights trace one of the most densely populated portions of the United States.
Published Sep 30, 2013
