In 2008, as NASA celebrated its 50th anniversary, the Earth Observatory asked a number of Earth scientists what we have learned about our home planet by going into space.

Scientists revise their conclusion that the ocean has cooled since 2003.

Science and relief efforts come together in the aftermath of the Kashmir Earthquake.

Beginning in late July 2008, the remaining ice shelves along the northern coast of Canada's Ellesmere Island underwent rapid retreat, losing a total of 214 square kilometers (83 square miles).

A drought to rival the Dust Bowl settled over the southern Great Plains in summer 2008.

Scientists on a remote river in Siberia send field reports of their expedition to study the impacts of fire and climate change on northern forests and tundra.

The Vulcan Project maps when and where Americans burn fossil fuels.

The amount of carbon dioxide that the ocean can take from the atmosphere is controlled by both natural cycles and human activity.

William Smith discovered that he could identify rock layers by the unique fossils they held. His discovery helped later generations of scientists to understand the history of life on Earth.

Astronauts onboard the International Space Station capture nighttime photographs of city lights, spectacular evidence of humanity's existence, our distribution, and our ability to change our environment.

In late February 2008, the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula disintegrated, an indication of warming temperatures in the region. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites provided some of the earliest evidence of the…

In 2006, fires and smoke in the Amazon declined significantly for the first time in nearly a decade. Is Amazon burning under control?

To understand how local weather shifted when the towering forests of the eastern United States gave way to fields and cities, scientists must reconstruct the region's historical landscapes.