Applied Science

Like orbiting sentinels, NASA’s Earth-observing satellites vigilantly monitor our planet’s ever-changing pulse from their unique vantage points in orbit. This animation shows the orbits of all of the current satellite missions. The flight paths are based on actual orbital elements. These missions—many joint with other nations and/or agencies—are able to collect global measurements of rainfall, solar irradiance, clouds, sea surface height, ocean salinity, and other aspects of the environment. Together, these measurements help scientists better diagnose the “health” of the Earth system.This animation will be regularly updated to show the orbits of the current earth observing fleet. This most recent version, published in March 2017, includes the CYGNSS constellation and DSCOVR at L1. Visit the original page here.Previous versions from recent years include:entry 4274 a February 2015 version including SMAPentry 3996 a spring 2014 version including GPM entry 4070 a May 2013 version which added Landsat-8entry 3892 a Dec 2011 version which added Suomi NPP and Aquariusentry 3725 a version from June 2010 ||

The Blue Marble, October 2015 || R_earth_viirs_1080p.00001_print.jpg (1024x576) [117.4 KB] || R_earth_viirs_1080p.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [56.3 KB] || R_earth_viirs_1080p.00001_thm.png (80x40) [4.3 KB] || R_earth_viirs_1080p.mp4 (1920x1080) [20.1 MB] || R_earth_viirs_720p.mp4 (1280x720) [11.0 MB] || R_earth_viirs_720p.webm (1280x720) [5.3 MB] || R_Earth_fast_2304p.mp4 (4096x2304) [52.5 MB] || R_earth_viirs_360p.mp4 (640x360) [3.6 MB] || frames/4104x2304_16x9_30p/fast/ (4104x2304) [32.0 KB] || R_earth_viirs_4k.mp4 (4104x2304) [52.5 MB] ||

This new space-based view of Earth’s city lights is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. The data was acquired over nine days in April 2012 and thirteen days in October 2012. It took the satellite 312 orbits and 2.5 terabytes of data to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth’s land surface and islands. This new data was then mapped over existing MODIS Blue Marble imagery to provide a realistic view of the planet. The view was made possible by the “day-night band” of Suomi NPP’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite. VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses “smart” light sensors to observe dim signals such as city lights, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight. This low-light sensor can distinguish night lights tens to hundreds of times better than previous satellites. ||

In order to study the Earth as a whole system and understand how it is changing, NASA develops and supports a large number of Earth observing missions. These missions provide Earth science researchers the necessary data to address key questions about global climate change. Missions begin with a study phase during which the key science objectives of the mission are identified, and designs for spacecraft and instruments are analyzed. Following a successful study phase, missions enter a development phase whereby all aspects of the mission are developed and tested to insure it meets the mission objectives. Operating missions are those missions that are currently active and providing science data to researchers. Operating missions may be in their primary operational phase or in an extended operational phase.Missions begin with a study phase during which the key science objectives of the mission are identified, and designs for spacecraft and instruments are analyzed. Following a successful study phase, missions enter a development phase whereby all aspects of the mission are developed and tested to insure it meets the mission objectives. ||

This visualization leads viewers on a narrated global tour of fire detections beginning in July 2002 and ending July 2011. The visualization also includes vegetation and snow cover data to show how fires respond to seasonal changes. The tour begins in Australia in 2002 by showing a network of massive grassland fires spreading across interior Australia as well as the greener Eucalyptus forests in the northern and eastern part of the continent. The tour then shifts to Asia where large numbers of agricultural fires are visible first in China in June 2004, then across a huge swath of Europe and western Russia in August, and then across India and Southeast Asia through the early part of 2005. It moves next to Africa, the continent that has more abundant burning than any other. MODIS observations have shown that some 70 percent of the world's fires occur in Africa alone. In what's a fairly average burning season, the visualization shows a huge outbreak of savanna fires during the dry season in Central Africa in July, August, and September of 2006, driven mainly by agricultural activities but also by the fact that the region experiences more lightning than anywhere else in the world. The tour shifts next to South America where a steady flickering of fire is visible across much of the Amazon rainforest with peaks of activity in September and November of 2009. Almost all of the fires in the Amazon are the direct result of human activity, including slash-and-burn agriculture, because the high moisture levels in the region prevent inhibit natural fires from occurring. It concludes in North America, a region where fires are comparatively rare. North American fires make up just 2 percent of the world's burned area each year. The fires that receive the most attention in the United States, the uncontrolled forest fires in the West, are less visible than the wave of agricultural fires prominent in the Southeast and along the Mississippi River Valley, but some of the large wildfires that struck Texas earlier this spring are visible. More information on the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) is available at http://maps.geog.umd.edu/firms/. ||

Tiny solid and liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere are called aerosols. Windblown dust, sea salts, volcanic ash, smoke from wildfires, and pollution from factories are all examples of aerosols. Depending upon their size, type, and location, aerosols can either cool the surface, or warm it. They can help clouds to form, or they can inhibit cloud formation. And if inhaled, some aerosols can be harmful to people’s health. To study aerosols, researchers from NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office ran a simulation of the atmosphere that captured how winds transport aerosols around the world. The simulation shows sea salt and dust swirl inside cyclones, sulfates stream from volcanoes, and carbon burst from fires (red dots) from May 2005 to May 2007, produced by the Goddard Earth Observing System Model Version 5, or GEOS-5. In general, dust appears in shades of orange, sea salt appears in shades of blue, sulfates appear white, and carbon appears in shades of green. Such simulations allow scientists to better understand how these tiny particulates travel in the atmosphere and influence weather and climate.

Global Fires 2015-2016, with Dates and Colorbar || global_fires_statelines_0000_print.jpg (1024x576) [73.9 KB] || global_fires_statelines_0000_searchweb.png (320x180) [41.4 KB] || global_fires_statelines_0000_thm.png (80x40) [4.6 KB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/global_fires_statelines/ (1920x1080) [64.0 KB] || global_fires_statelines_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [8.5 MB] || global_fires_statelines_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [2.3 MB] ||

By chance, Landsat 8 acquired imagery of the Soberanes fire burning near the California coast between Monterey and Big Sur a few hours after it started on July 22, 2016. Seven days later, on July 29, the fire had grown so much that the surrounding area is almost entirely covered by smoke. This set of Landsat images shows the region on [left to right] July 22, July 29, and August 8 in true color (using bands 4, 3, and 2) and also in shortwave and near-infrared light (using bands 7, 5, and 4). Active fires, which can be detected based on calculations using the shortwave infrared and near-infrared bands, are shown in red on the true color images. The shortwave and near-infrared images penetrate the smoke to provide a clearer view of the burn scar. In this false-color view, active fires are bright red and orange, scarred land is dark red, and intact vegetation and human development are shades of green. ||

The final animation of the monthly burned area percent shown in the Robinson projection with a colorbar and date overlay || comp_burned_area_pct.2234_print.jpg (1024x576) [128.4 KB] || comp_burned_area_pct.2234_searchweb.png (320x180) [78.4 KB] || comp_burned_area_pct.2234_thm.png (80x40) [6.4 KB] || comp_burned_area_pct.2234_web.png (320x180) [78.4 KB] || comp_burned_area_pct_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [44.1 MB] || comp_burned_area_pct_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [8.4 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/robinson_final/ (1920x1080) [256.0 KB] || Comp_burned_area_pct_720p30.mp4 (1280x720) [26.2 MB] || comp_burned_area_pct_4k_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [142.3 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_30p/robinson_final/ (3840x2160) [256.0 KB] || comp_burned_area_4407.key [29.7 MB] || comp_burned_area_4407.pptx [27.1 MB] ||

Animation of carbon dioxide released from two different sources: fires (biomass burning) and massive urban centers known as megacities. The animation covers a five day period in June 2006. The model is based on real emission data and is then set to run so that scientists can observe how the greenhouse gas behaves once it has been emitted. || tagged_co2_global_loop_appletv_print.jpg (1024x576) [102.9 KB] || tagged_co2_global_loop_appletv_searchweb.png (320x180) [75.4 KB] || tagged_co2_global_loop_appletv_thm.png (80x40) [6.0 KB] || tagged_co2_global_loop_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [25.1 MB] || tagged_co2_global_loop_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [80.0 MB] || tagged_co2_global_loop.mpeg (1280x720) [172.7 MB] || tagged_co2_global_loop.webm (960x540) [14.5 MB] || tagged_co2_global_loop_prores.mov (1280x720) [707.1 MB] || tagged_co2_global_loop_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [7.8 MB] ||

Fires at Night in the U.S. Northwest || nw_fires_at_night_preview.jpg (1024x575) [5.5 MB] || nw_fires_at_night_preview_thm.png (80x40) [24.2 KB] || nw_fires_at_night_preview_searchweb.png (320x180) [136.1 KB] || nw_fires_at_night_ae_1080p.mp4 (1920x1080) [7.4 MB] || nw_fires_at_night_ae_720p.mp4 (1280x720) [3.8 MB] || nw_fires_at_night_ae_720p.webm (1280x720) [4.7 MB] || nw_fires_at_night_2304p.mp4 (4096x2304) [22.8 MB] || nw_fires_at_night_ae_360p.mp4 (640x360) [1.2 MB] || frames/4104x2304_16x9_30p/ (4104x2304) [64.0 KB] || nw_fires_at_night_30627.pptx [30.2 MB] || nw_fires_at_night_30627.key [32.0 MB] ||

In the summer of 1988, lightning- and human-ignited fires consumed vast stretches of Yellowstone National Park. By the time the first snowfall extinguished the last flames in September, 793,000 of the park’s 2,221,800 acres had burned.This series of images shows the scars left in the wake of the western Yellowstone fires and the slow recovery in the twenty years that followed. Taken by Landsat-5, the images were made with a combination of visible and infrared light (green, short-wave infrared, and near infrared) to highlight the burned area and changes in vegetation. In the years that follow, the burn scar fades progressively. On the ground, grasses and wildflowers sprung up from the ashes and tiny pine trees took root and began to grow. Though changes did occur between 1988 and 2010, recovery has been slow. In 2010, the burned area is still clearly discernible.Images acquired by Landsat satellites Reference: NASA’s Earth Observatory ||

The vast majority of Russian wildfires occur in Siberia, generally along the southern border. This year’s blazes have followed the typical pattern and occurred primarily east of the Urals. This pair of images from August 3, 2012 shows fires using two different instruments. The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite carries an instrument called the “day-night band,” designed to be sensitive to such low levels of visible light that it can detect wildfires in the dark of the night. On August 3, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi NPP acquired the right image of wildfires blazing in eastern Siberia. The white outlines are the actively burning perimeters of several fires. ||

This visualization displays the MODIS Climate Modeling Grid (CMG) Mean Fire Radiative Power (FRP). The CMG fire products incorporate MODIS active fire data into gridded statistical summaries of fire pixel information intended for use in regional and global modeling. The products are currently generated at 0.5 degree spatial resolution. Many of the lower intensity fires shown in red were prescribed fires, lit for either agricultural or ecosystem management purposes. Orange indicates fires that were more intense with the most intense FRP being shown in yellow. Notice, many of the most intense fires occurred in higher latitudes. ||