Summer of 2023 was Earth’s hottest since global records began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The months of June, July, and August combined were 0.41 degrees Fahrenheit (0.23 degrees Celsius) warmer than any other summer in NASA’s record, and 2.1 degrees F (1.2 C) […]
NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA research reveals how earth’s tilt causes seasons in space weather
As Earth spins around the Sun, our planet’s slight tilt creates seasons. Now, research from two NASA space missions has found how the same tilt also influences seasonal differences in space weather – conditions in space produced by the Sun’s activity. Space weather events produce the beautiful glow of the northern and southern lights, but, […]
Posted inUS
NASA Says 2022 Fifth Warmest Year on Record, Warming Trend Continues
Earth’s average surface temperature in 2022 tied with 2015 as the fifth warmest on record, according to an analysis by NASA. Continuing the planet’s long-term warming trend, global temperatures in 2022 were 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.89 degrees Celsius) above the average for NASA’s baseline period (1951-1980), scientists from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) […]
Posted inRegional
Possible tau Herculid meteor shower tonight
A possible newcomer this year is the tau Herculid shower, forecast to peak on the night of May 30 and early morning of May 31. The peak time to watch is around 10pm on the West Coast. “Meteors aren’t uncommon,” Bill Cooke said, who leads NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “Earth is […]
Posted inSci/Tech
2021 Tied for 6th Warmest Year in Continued Trend, NASA Analysis Shows
Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2021 tied with 2018 as the sixth warmest on record, according to independent analyses done by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Continuing the planet’s long-term warming trend, global temperatures in 2021 were 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.85 degrees Celsius) above the average for NASA’s baseline period, […]
Posted inOp-Ed
NASA Administrator Statement on Russian ASAT Test
November 15, 2021 – On Monday Moscow Standard Time, the International Space Station (ISS) Flight Control team was notified of indications of a satellite breakup that may create sufficient debris to pose a conjunction threat to the station. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released the following statement about the incident: “Earlier today, due to the debris […]
Posted inLife
NASA Remembers Millie Hughes-Fulford
February 5, 2021 – NASA is remembering Millie Hughes-Fulford, the first woman to fly as a NASA payload specialist, who died Thursday. Hughes-Fulford was selected as a payload specialist in January 1983 and flew in June 1991 aboard the space shuttle Columbia on the STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS 1) mission, the first mission dedicated […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP Satellite Analyzes Saharan Dust Aerosol Blanket
June 30, 2020 – NASA uses satellites and other resources to track aerosol particles made of desert dust, smoke, and volcanic ash. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard Suomi NPP provided a visible image while the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) Nadir-Mapper (NM) instrument aboard the Suomi-NPP satellite provided absorbing aerosol index […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA Study Adds a Pinch of Salt to El Niño Models
April 7, 2020 – When modeling the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) ocean-climate cycle, adding satellite sea surface salinity — or saltiness — data significantly improves model accuracy, according to a new NASA study. ENSO is an irregular cycle of warm and cold climate events called El Niño and La Niña. In normal years, strong easterly trade winds […]
Posted inEnviro
From smoke going round the world to aerosol levels, NASA observes Australia's bushfires
January 14, 2020 – NASA scientists using data from its NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite, has traced the movement of the smoke coming off the Australian fires across the globe showing that it has circumnavigated the Earth. In an image created from data gathered by the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Nadir Mapper on Suomi […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA Visualization Shows a Black Hole’s Warped World
September 26, 2019 – This new visualization of a black hole illustrates how its gravity distorts our view, warping its surroundings as if seen in a carnival mirror. The visualization simulates the appearance of a black hole where infalling matter has collected into a thin, hot structure called an accretion disk. The black hole’s extreme […]
Posted inRegional
Here Comes the Sun… and Moon!
Happy equinox, Earthlings! March 20 marks the spring equinox, one of two seasonal markers in Earth’s year-long orbit when the Sun appears to shine directly over the equator, and daytime and nighttime are nearly equal lengths–12 hours–everywhere on the planet. It’s the start of astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning more sunlight and longer […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA Finds Possible Second Impact Crater Under Greenland Ice
February 11, 2019 – A NASA glaciologist has discovered a possible second impact crater buried under more than a mile of ice in northwest Greenland. This follows the finding, announced in November 2018, of a 19-mile-wide crater beneath Hiawatha Glacier – the first meteorite impact crater ever discovered under Earth’s ice sheets. Though the newly […]
Posted inSci/Tech
2018 Fourth Warmest Year in Continued Warming Trend, According to NASA, NOAA
February 6, 2019 – Earth’s global surface temperatures in 2018 were the fourth warmest since 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Global temperatures in 2018 were 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.83 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute […]
Posted inRegional
El Dorado Hills Students to Speak with NASA Astronaut Aboard Space Station
February 1, 2019 – Elementary school students from California will have an opportunity to talk with a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station next week. The Earth-to-space call will air on NASA television and the agency’s website. Anne McClain will speak with students from William Brooks and Buckeye elementary schools in El Dorado Hills, California, at 1:35 p.m. […]
Posted inRegional
NASA’s IMERG measures heavy rainfall in California wildfire areas (VIDEO)
Dec. 4, 2018 – Heavy precipitation recently fell in areas of California that were recently devastated by deadly wildfires such as the Camp Fire and the Woolsey fire. This flooding rainfall has resulted in evacuations in burn scarred areas such as Butte County where the deadly Camp Fire hit this month. NASA used data from […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA: Near two million acres on fire in the U.S. (MAPS)
Aug. 20, 2018 – The West Coast of the United States is shrouded in smoke from the 110 large fires (this does not include smaller fires within each complex of fires) that have erupted across the region during this fire season. Over 1.9 million acres are or have been ablaze. Six new large fires were […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars
June 7, 2018 – NASA’s Curiosity rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA satellites reveal major shifts in global freshwater
May 17, 2018 – In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists have combined an array of NASA satellite observations of Earth with data on human activities to map locations where freshwater is changing around the globe and to determine why. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, finds that Earth’s wet land areas are getting wetter […]
Posted inSci/Tech
NASA’s aerial survey of polar ice expands its Arctic reach
March 13, 2017 – For the past eight years, Operation IceBridge, a NASA mission that conducts aerial surveys of polar ice, has produced unprecedented three-dimensional views of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, providing scientists with valuable data on how polar ice is changing in a warming world. Now, for the first time, the campaign will […]