By measuring the total amount of energy that the sun delivers to the Earth with ACRIMSAT, scientists will be able to build better scientific models of the Earth’s climate system, providing a vital piece of the global climate change puzzle.
Nearly a decade ago, ecologist Steve Running described how NASA’s Earth Observing System missions were going to help us answer this crucial question: Is the current human occupancy and activity of planet Earth sustainable?
BOREAS’ primary goals were to determine how the boreal forest interacts with the atmosphere (via the transfer of gases and energy), how much carbon is stored in the forest ecosystem, how climate change will affect the forest, and how changes in the forest affects weather and climate.
A multi-scale project leads to an understanding of the carbon flux between terrestrial ecosystems and the lower atmosphere.
El Niño/Southern Oscillation events have become easier to predict, thanks to the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite.
Cyclic patterns in the ocean and atmosphere shape global weather.
Evidence suggests that atmospheric aerosols from biomass burning may offset global warming caused by greenhouse gases.
Although most people regard fire as a destructive force that should be fought and quickly extinguished, the fact is the boreal forest evolved in the presence of fire and adapted to it. Fire is the mechanism by which the forest is regenerated.
Forest fires, brush fires, and slash and burn agriculture—types of biomass burning—are a significant force for environmental change. Fires may play an important role in climate change, emitting both greenhouse gases and smoke particles into the atmosphere.
An international collaboration may lead to accurate assessments of water storage on Amazonian floodplains during rainy seasons.
In 1859, John Tyndall's experiments showed that even in small quantities, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone absorbed much more heat than the rest of the atmosphere.
A new global change research tool detects lightning day and night.
Sulfur dioxide in the exhaust from ship engines creates bright clouds.
A combination of cloud-free satellite imagery and digital elevation data has revealed the face of Antarctica.
Scientists have detected a nearly invisible cloud layer that may explain dryness in the stratosphere.
Remote sensing is the science and art of identifying, observing, and measuring an object without coming into direct contact with it. This involves the detection and measurement of radiation of different wavelengths reflected or emitted from distant objects or materials, by which they may be…
A NASA-affiliated research team constructed a computer model of the Earth’s terrestrial biosphere that will teach us a great deal about the dynamic interactions between land plants and the lower atmosphere.
New wind data reveal typhoon transitions to mid-latitude storms and ocean monsoon breeding grounds.
In their ongoing endeavor to understand our planet as a whole system, Earth scientists are increasingly using computer models to help them visualize the causes and effects of climate and environmental change. These models serve as predictive tools that allow scientists to ask “what…
Scientists found a way to detect the end of El Niño and the beginning of La Niña by studying the growth of phytoplankton (tiny marine plants).
Famous for studying lightning by flying a kite in a thunderstorm, American Benjamin Franklin also contributed to early scientific knowledge of weather, climate, and oceanography.
A relatively unstable molecule that represents a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, ozone is crucial for life on Earth. Depending on where ozone resides, it can protect or harm life.
QuikSCAT provides climatologists, meteorologists and oceanographers with daily, detailed snapshots of the winds swirling above the world’s oceans.
For years scientists across the world have been mapping changes in the landscape (forest to field, grassland to desert, ice to rock) to prevent future disasters, monitor natural resources, and collect information on the environment. While land cover can be observed on the ground or by airplane, the…
Scientists are using satellites to spot extreme floods, using the data they collect to create maps of flood risk.
The latest mission in the Landsat series—Landsat 7—continues the flow of global change information to users worldwide. Scientists use Landsat satellites to gather remotely sensed images of the land surface and surrounding coastal regions for global change research, regional…
With the help of satellite images researchers plan to locate areas where spotted owls are likely to live. The researchers use this information, along with ground surveys, to map out the owl’s habitat and create a method for assessing the health of the owl population in the Pacific Northwest.
One goal of of NASA’s Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) is to understand how changes in air temperature, moisture and carbon dioxide levels may impact the boreal ecosystem and what role the boreal forest plays in global-scale climate changes.
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), is the first mission dedicated to measuring tropical and subtropical rainfall through microwave and visible infrared sensors, and includes the first spaceborne rain radar.
On a recent (April 19–May 2, 1999) trip to the Arctic, NASA personnel chose the North Pole as the site from which to demonstrate how new communications technologies and the Internet now make it possible for scientists working in very remote locations to send and receive data using NASA…
Clouds are one of the most obvious and influential features of Earth’s climate system. They are also one of its most variable components. The natural diversity and variability of clouds has intrigued and challenged researchers for centuries.
Satellite remote sensing enables researchers to consistently monitor distribution and seasonal changes of the world’s vegetation and the exchanges of water and carbon between land vegetation and the atmosphere. These observations will help us understand the rate of change of atmospheric…
Aerosols are tiny particles suspended in the air. Some occur naturally, originating from volcanoes, dust storms, forest and grassland fires, living vegetation, and sea spray. Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and the alteration of natural surface cover, also generate aerosols.
Scientists estimate that between 1 and 2 billion metric tons of carbon per year are "missing" from the global carbon budget. In a concerted effort to solve the mystery of the missing carbon, NASA led the interdisciplinary Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) from 1994-97.
During an El Niño, the relationships between winds and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean change, with an impact on weather conditions around the world.
The phenomenon known as El Niño is sometimes reverses, leading to strong trade winds, colder than normal water off the coast of Peru, and warmer than normal water near Australia. This cold counterpart to El Niño is known as La Niña.
The Earth’s ocean and atmosphere are locked in an embrace. As one changes, so does the other.
Phytoplankton, microscopic marine plants, form the basis of the marine food chain and help regulate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Coccolithophores are one-celled marine plants that surround themselves with a microscopic plating made of limestone (calcite).
Polar ice consists of sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers. Extending over vast areas of the polar regions, this ice provides some early clues about climate change.
Alpine glaciers are a good indicator of climate change. If the climate is getting warmer or drier, they will shrink. If it is getting colder or wetter, they tend to grow.
During the summers of 1997 and 1998, a type of one-celled microscopic plant changed the color of the Bering Sea from its natural deep blue to a shimmering aquamarine. These plants, called coccolithophores, present a unique problem for researchers because a massive bloom of the organisms has never…
On December 18, 1999, NASA launched a new flagship, the Terra satellite, to begin collecting a new 18-year global data set on which to base future scientific investigations about our complex home planet.
The study of clouds, where they occur, and their characteristics, plays a key role in the understanding of climate change. Low, thick clouds reflect solar radiation and cool the Earth's surface. High, thin clouds transmit incoming solar radiation and also trap some of the outgoing infrared…
