The bigger the hailstone, the more damage it can cause. But scientists find that predicting hailstone size can be challenging. How quickly does hail melt as it falls?
Category: Earth Science
US-French Satellite Takes Stock of World’s River Water
Rivers rise and fall throughout the year, but by how much? Perhaps less than previously thought, according to new data from the SWOT mission. Hidden riverbed contours are also emerging. In a first, a space mission led by NASA and France has tracked Earth’s rivers swelling and shrinking from month to month over the course […]
NASA-ISRO Radar Mission Peers Through Clouds to See Mississippi River Delta
A new image from the NISAR mission shows off the satellite’s ability to reveal details of Earth’s surfaces. The science team also released new sample data. A U.S.-Indian Earth satellite’s ability to see through clouds, revealing insights and characteristics of our planet’s surface, is on display in a colorful, newly released image showing the Mississippi River Delta region in southeastern Louisiana. Created with data collected by the NISAR (NASA-ISRO […]
NASA-ISRO Radar Mission Peers Through Clouds to See Mississippi River Delta
A new image from the NISAR mission shows off the satellite’s ability to reveal details of Earth’s surfaces. The science team also released new sample data. A U.S.-Indian Earth satellite’s ability to see through clouds, revealing insights and characteristics of our planet’s surface, is on display in a colorful, newly released image showing the Mississippi River Delta region in southeastern Louisiana. Created with data collected by the NISAR (NASA-ISRO […]
NASA Analysis Shows La Niña Limited Sea Level Rise in 2025
A mild La Niña caused greater rainfall over the Amazon basin, which offset rising sea levels due to record warming of Earth’s oceans. The rise in the global mean sea level slowed in 2025 relative to the year before, an effect largely due to the La Niña conditions that persisted over most of the year. […]
How NASA Is Homing in From Space on Ocean Debris
Space-based technology could help track plastic and other flotsam by its ‘fingerprints.’ In late 2025, scientists reported that, for the first time, they were able to detect concentrations of plastic pollution on land using NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) sensor aboard the International Space Station. The technology has inspired marine researchers to […]
The Earth Observer: Offering Perspectives from Space through Time
An Intertwined History: The Earth Observer and EOS The Earth Observer, a newsletter issued for more than 36 years, will release its last online content at the close of 2025. This newsletter evolved in parallel with NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS). It is almost impossible to speak of this newsletter without mentioning EOS. As The Earth […]