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 […]
Category: Earth Science
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 […]
Terra: The End of An Era
Introduction Launched into the night sky nearly 26 years ago, on December 19, 1999, from Vandenberg Air Force Base (now Space Force Base), Terra was NASA’s first Earth Observing System (EOS) Flagship mission to study Earth’s land surface from space via a coordinated series of polar-orbiting and low-inclination satellites that produce long-term global observations useful […]
Terra: The End of An Era
Introduction Launched into the night sky nearly 26 years ago, on December 19, 1999, from Vandenberg Air Force Base (now Space Force Base), Terra was NASA’s first Earth Observing System (EOS) Flagship mission to study Earth’s land surface from space via a coordinated series of polar-orbiting and low-inclination satellites that produce long-term global observations useful […]
The Final Earth Observer Editor’s Corner: October–December 2025
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that NASA Earth Science Communications has directed The Earth Observer to conduct an orderly shutdown of the publication. No new content will be published after Dec. 31, 2025. While the sunset of The Earth Observer is bittersweet for our team, the good news is that all […]
The Final Earth Observer Editor’s Corner: October–December 2025
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that NASA Earth Science Communications has directed The Earth Observer to conduct an orderly shutdown of the publication. No new content will be published after Dec. 31, 2025. While the sunset of The Earth Observer is bittersweet for our team, the good news is that all […]
The State of CERES: Updates and Highlights
Introduction The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) was initially designed in the late-1980s and early-1990s as a facility instrument for NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS). Since its inception, NASA’s Langley Research Center (LaRC) has led this effort. CERES has a long history with seven different instruments flying on five different missions since […]