Earth ID: 12777

Our Living Planet From Space

Released on November 13, 2017

Life. It's the one thing that, so far, makes Earth unique among the thousands of other planets we've discovered. Since the fall of 1997, NASA satellites have continuously and globally observed all plant life at the surface of the land and ocean. Earth is still the only planet we know of with life - with that in mind, our habitable home world seems evermore fragile and beautiful when considering the vastness of unlivable space.

On land, vegetation appears on a scale from brown (low vegetation) to dark green (lots of vegetation); at the ocean surface, phytoplankton are indicated on a scale from purple (low) to yellow (high). This visualization was created with data from satellites including SeaWiFS, and instruments including the NASA/NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.

This satellite data lets scientists watch Earth breathe and improves our understanding of our home planet. Someday, this same satellite technology could help in the search for life on other planets.

The SeaWiFS satellite was launched in late 1997, just in time to capture the phytoplankton that bloomed in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific as conditions changed from El Niño to La Niña, seen here in yellow.

Vegetation in North America wakes up in the spring, captured here as a change from pale green to dark green as photosynthesis ramps up with the season. White areas are covered in snow.

Source Material

20 Years of Global Biosphere (updated)

A Story of Science and Friendship

Stunning New Global Portrait Celebrates 20 Years of Studying Life on Earth from Space Live Shots

How to Find a Living Planet

Credits

LK Ward (USRA): Lead Producer
Patrick Lynch (NASA/GSFC): Editor
Compton Tucker (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Ivona Cetinic (USRA): Scientist
LK Ward (USRA): Narrator
Kathryn Mersmann (USRA): Associate Producer
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12777

Data Used:
SeaStar/SeaWiFS
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Keywords:
DLESE >> Biology
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Biosphere
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Biosphere >> Ecological Dynamics >> Life History
SVS >> SeaWiFS
SVS >> VIIRS
SVS >> MODIS
NASA Science >> Earth
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Biological Classification >> Plants

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0