August 10, 2018 – Theeey’re heeere! The Perseid meteor shower is here! Perseid meteors, caused by debris left behind by the Comet Swift-Tuttle, began streaking across the skies in late July and will peak on August 12. The Perseid meteor shower is often considered to be one of the best meteor showers of the year […]
NASA Earth Observatory
Posted inRegional
The Perry Fire by Day and Night
July 31, 2018 – Editor’s note: Updates on the now 44,123-acre Perry Fire can be found here. The Perry Fire was one of 98 large, active wildfires burning in the United States on July 30, 2018. While this fire north of Reno, Nevada, was not the largest or most destructive, the position of its smoke […]
Posted inLife
Which country is closest to the United States without sharing a land border?
January 29, 2018 – Here’s a bit of trivia to challenge your geography knowledge: Which country is closest to the United States without sharing a land border? The answer is revealed in these images, which show the extreme eastern part of Russia and an extreme western part of the United States. The wide view (top) […]
Posted inCalifornia
Satellite imagery shows deadly debris flows in Montecito
First there was fire. Then rain. And now deadly debris flows are devastating Montecito, California. Dozens of people are missing or dead, and at least 400 homes have been damaged or destroyed by fast-moving floods that swept mud, rocks, and charred timber from the Thomas fire scar. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired natural-color imagery of Montecito before and after […]
Posted inLife
Where It’s Christmas Every Day
December 26, 2017 – According to popular lore, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole. However, there are a few other locations that the trackers atNorth American Aerospace Defense Command kept an eye on when they monitored Santa’s whereabouts on Christmas Eve this year. One spot is a small town east of Orlando where it is Christmas every day. That […]
Posted inCalifornia, Regional
Happy Winter Solstice 2017
December 21, 2017 – Welcome to December’s solstice, first day of winter in the north and summer for the southern hemisphere. Astronomical markers of the seasons, solstice and equinox dates are based on the Sun’s place in its annual journey along the ecliptic, through planet Earth’s sky. At this solstice, the Sun reaches its maximum southern declination […]
Posted inCalifornia
Satellite image of SoCal wildfires
December 5, 2017 – Thick smoke streamed from several fires in southern California when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image in the afternoon on December 5, 2017. The largest of the blazes—the fast-moving Thomas fire in Ventura County—had charred more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) in less than a day, according to Cal […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Smoke Over the United States
September 5, 2017 – With dozens of wildfires burning across the western United States and Canada, many North Americans have had the acrid taste of smoke in their mouths during the past few weeks. On September 5, 2017, the National Interagency Fire Center reported more than 80 large fires burning in nine western U.S. states. People […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Blazing Fast Relief: A NASA-supported tool is accelerating wildfire recovery
June 16, 2017 – Burned Area Emergency Response teams— they may be one of most important parts of wildfires that you’ve probably never heard of. As the last flames of a raging wildfire are being contained, these BAER crews begin safeguarding lives, property, and natural resources threatened by additional perils that fires create. Scorched Earth […]
Posted inRegional
NASA Earth Observatory: Abundant Snowpack Blankets the Sierra Nevada
March 3, 2017 – Snowpack on the Sierra Nevada provides one-third of the water consumed by California citizens, farmers, and businesses each year. For the first time in at least five years, there should be more than enough of it. According to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), the water stored as snow in […]
Posted inCalifornia
NASA Earth Observatory: River in the Sky Keeps Flowing Over the West (Satellite Photo)
NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen and Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership February 22, 2017 – Yet another series of atmospheric rivers has drenched California and the American West in a stunning turnaround from five years of drought. Many parts of California have received nearly twice as much […]