Press Releases & Feature Stories Archive - Earth Sciences Division

NASA Data Aid Food Security Assessments in Kenya

01.25.2021

Cropland masks and other environmental data can help agriculture agencies pinpoint where support is most needed.

Media Advisory: NASA, U.S. Consulate to Host Virtual Briefing on Renewed Partnership With City of Rio de Janeiro

01.25.2021

The U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro is hosting a media briefing on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 9 a.m. EST to discuss the renewal of a partnership between the city and NASA to better understand and monitor natural hazards.

Brunt Breaking Up with Antarctica this Year?

01.20.2021

A crack on the Antarctic ice shelf grew dramatically in late 2020 into 2021.

Turkey Experiences Intense Drought

01.16.2021

Multiple seasons of below-average rainfall have affected the country’s drinking water supplies and groundwater reservoirs.

Heliophysics Hackweek 2020 Coronal Holes Team Publishes Results at NeurIPS 2020

01.14.2021

Helio Hackweek 2020 “Coronal Holes” team members and other hackweek participants continued their collaboration and published a paper and poster of their results at the 34th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems. “SEARCH: SEgmentation of polAR Coronal Holes,” was published at the Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences Workshop.

2020 Tied for Warmest Year on Record, NASA Analysis Shows

01.14.2021

Earth's global average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record, according to an analysis by NASA.

The Climate Events of 2020 Show How Excess Heat is Expressed on Earth

01.14.2021

By most accounts, 2020 has been a rough year for the planet. It was the warmest year on record, just barely exceeding the record set in 2016 by less than a tenth of a degree according to NASA's analysis.

2020 Hurricanes Damage Vulnerable Mangroves

01.14.2021

Central America experienced one of its most intense hurricane seasons in years, leading to widespread degradation to coastal environments.

NASA, NOAA to Announce 2020 Global Temperatures, Climate Conditions

01.12.2021

Climate researchers from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will release their annual assessment of global temperatures and discuss the major climate trends of 2020 during a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Thursday, Jan. 14.

The Long Decline of Arctic Sea Ice

01.06.2021

Forty years of satellite data show that 2020 was just the latest in a decades-long decline of Arctic sea ice.

NCCS-Enabled Science Advances Being Presented at Online AMS Annual Meeting

01.06.2021

From more accurate hydrology forecasts to improved understanding of cyclone dynamics, science advances enabled by NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) resources are the subject of posters and virtual presentations at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS 101), being held online January 10–15, 2021.

NASA, US, European Partner Satellite Returns First Sea Level Measurements

12.30.2020

The Sentinel-6/Michael Freilich satellite reached its mapping orbit, and the radar altimeter returned its first measurements of sea surface height.

Beyond Ice: NASA’s ICESat-2 Shows Hidden Talents

12.30.2020

The ICESat-2 laser altimeter data provide height measurements of every 2.3 feet (70 centimeters) along the ground path. The data provide precise measurements of the ice sheet height, ice floes, forest canopies, rivers and lakes and surface topography, and shallow water bathymetry.

An Inland Delta Flooded

12.21.2020

Seasonal floods on the Niger River reached unusual heights in Mali this year.

NASA Discoveries, R&D, Moon to Mars Exploration Plans Persevere in 2020

12.21.2020

???NASA has impressed the nation with our resilience and persistence during the pandemic,??? said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

NASA Highlights New Findings, Upcoming Missions at Virtual AGU Meeting

12.21.2020

ASA and researchers from around the world will present new findings on a wide range of Earth and space science topics at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Dec. 1-17, held virtually this year.

Sea of Galilee

12.19.2020

A few wet years have helped reverse a decades-long decline in water levels on one of the world’s most cherished lakes.

Land Ecosystems Are Becoming Less Efficient at Absorbing CO2

12.18.2020

Scientists have identified an unsettling trend — as levels of CO2 in the atmosphere increase, 86 percent of land ecosystems globally are becoming progressively less efficient at absorbing it.

Water Limitations in the Tropics Offset Carbon Uptake from Arctic Greening

12.18.2020

New research shows that as Earth???s climate is changing, increased carbon absorption by plants in the Arctic is being offset by a corresponding decline in the tropics.

NASA Finds What a Glacier’s Slope Reveals About Greenland Ice Sheet Thinning

12.18.2020

As glaciers flow outward from the Greenland Ice Sheet, what lies beneath them offers clues to their role in future ice thinning and sea-level rise contribution.

NASA Goddard’s AI Center of Excellence Connects Scientists and Engineers to the Latest Advances in Artificial Intelligence

12.18.2020

The mission of the AI Center of Excellence is to enable new AI techniques for scientific discovery, providing scientists within NASA Goddard and their partners beyond NASA with resources for increased collaboration, innovation, and co-learning.