Earth

NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar)

NASA-ISRO Satellite Captures Pacific Northwest Through Clouds

Seattle and Portland, Oregon, are among the cloudiest cities in the United States. But that infamous cloud cover is no match for the U.S.-Indian Earth satellite NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), which is designed to peer straight through clouds.

Posted March 25, 2026

Earth Science

Earth

Ionosphere

Natural Disasters

Tsunamis

See NASA’s GUARDIAN Catch a Tsunami

A new data visualization illustrates how an experimental NASA technology can provide extra lead time to communities in the path of a tsunami. Called GUARDIAN (GNSS Upper Atmospheric Real-time Disaster Information and Alert Network), the software detects slight distortions in satellite navigation signals to spot hazards on the move..

Posted March 23, 2026

Earth

Surface Water

SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography)

Water on Earth

SWOT Mission Unlocks a New View of Our Waterways

Explore how rivers move, change, and sustain life across the planet with SWOT data.

Posted March 23, 2026

Earth

Earth Observatory

Landsat 8 / LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission)

Landsat 9

Life on Earth

Vegetation

A Fault Line in Full Bloom

Plains around the San Andreas Fault and across Carrizo Plain National Monument are awash with yellow as wildflowers bloom.

Posted March 23, 2026

Earth

Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Laser Reflecting Instrument Makes GPS Satellite More Accurate

A NASA laser reflecting technology that will aid Global Positioning System (GPS) accuracy is now operational as of March 9. The instrument, known as a laser retroreflector array, or LRA, launched aboard GPS III SV-09, the ninth of U.S. Space Force’s Block III Global Positioning System satellites, on Jan. 27. LRAs are sets of mirrors […]

Posted March 19, 2026

Earth

Volcanoes

Lava Flows Down Mayon

The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 acquired this rare, relatively clear image of Mayon, the most active volcano in the Philippines, on Feb. 26, 2026. The natural-color scene is overlaid with infrared observations to highlight the lava’s heat signature.

Posted March 18, 2026

Earth

Earth Observatory

Earth Science

Earth Surface & Interior

Landsat 8 / LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission)

Life on Earth

Topography

Vegetation

A Bit of Gray on an Emerald Isle

Ireland is best known for its many greens, but the striking grays of the island’s Burren region also stand out in satellite images.

Posted March 17, 2026

Earth

Landsat

2026 William T. Pecora Award Nominations Now Being Accepted

The William T. Pecora Award is presented annually to individuals or teams using satellite or aerial remote sensing that make outstanding contributions toward understanding the Earth (land, oceans, and air), educating the next generation of scientists, informing decision-makers, or supporting natural or human-induced disaster response.

Posted March 11, 2026

Earth

Earth Science

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography)

Water on Earth

US-French Satellite Takes Stock of World’s River Water

In a first, a space mission led by NASA and France has tracked Earth’s rivers swelling and shrinking from month to month over the course of a year and found significantly less of a swing than previous model-based estimates. A record drought in the Amazon likely influenced the tally made by the Surface Water and […]

Posted March 4, 2026

Earth

Sunglint on Atlantic Ocean

Sunlight beams off a partly cloudy Atlantic Ocean just after sunrise as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above on March 5, 2025. This is an example of sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that a satellite sensor views it. The result is […]

Posted March 2, 2026