Phytoplankton – microscopic marine organisms that thrive in nutrient-rich cold waters – form brilliant swirls of green in the Barents Sea north of Norway. The striking turquoise color is caused in part by sunlight reflecting off of chlorophyll in the phytoplankton, which, like terrestrial plants, use photosynthesis to create carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. NASA GSFC
At 3:00 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time on May 23, 2006, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams from International Space Station Expedition 13 contacted the Alaska Volcano Observatory to report that the Cleveland Volcano had produced a plume of ash. Shortly after the activity began, he took this photograph.
Triple-digit temperatures, extremely low relative humidity, and years of extended drought are all contributing to the growth of wildfires in Southern California. The Station fire, which began in Aug. 26, 2009 in La Canada/Flintridge, reportedly burned 105,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest by in five days, destroying at least 21 homes and threatening more than 12,000 others.
Bright yellow streamers of dust sweep off North Africa's Moroccan coast toward the Canary Islands in this true-color Terra MODIS image from Feb. 17, 2004. Just off the coast of Lanzarote Island, the northeastern-most of the Canaries, gravity waves caused by the high winds driving the dust storm create dark and light stripes on the water.
This satellite photo shows Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla.
This image shows the Central Alps at the Switzerland-Italy-Austria border. It was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on April 14, 1994 and on October 5, 1994. Data obtained in April is green; data obtained in October appears in red and blue, and was used as an enhancement based on the ratio of the two data sets.
On October 22, 2005, the Sierra Negra Volcano on Isla Isabela in the Galapagos Islands began erupting, sending ash as high as 42,000 feet, according to the US Geological Survey. Subsequent satellite observations estimated the cloud height at 25,000 feet.
The Bay of Biscay forms a gentle 'u' between the southwest shores of France (r.) and the Iberian Peninsula (bottom). On April 29, 2005, the brilliant blue and green swirls of a phytoplankton bloom filled the entire bay.
Off the east coast of New Zealand, cold rivers of water that have branched off from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow north past the South Island and converge with warmer waters flowing south past the North Island in this October 25, 2009 image. The surface waters of this meeting place are rich in phytoplankton.
On December 12, 2002, a strong low-pressure system could be seen just south of the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands in the northwestern Pacific.
Wharves in San Francisco are seen in this 2001 satellite image.
This is a spaceborne radar image of the city of Sacramento, the capital of California. Urban areas appear pink and the surrounding agricultural areas are green and blue. The Sacramento River is the curving dark line running from the left side of the image (northwest) to the bottom right. The American River is the dark curving line in the center.
Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 14 crewmember on the International Space Station. The port city of Bahia Blanca lies southwest of Buenos Aires on the southern rim of the Argentine economic heartland. This small city of 275,000 people is captured in one frame which shows its position near the mouth of the Arroyo Naposta.
Bright city lights along the coastline and interior of the eastern coast of the United States were captured with a digital still camera by one of the Expedition Six crewmembers on board the International Space Station (ISS). This nighttime view shows New York City, the largest and brightest metropolitan area along the coast. The metropolitan area straddles the Hudson River and spreads eastward over western Long Island.
This three-frequency space radar image shows the city of Samara, Russia in pink and light green right of center. Samara is at the junction of the Volga and Samara Rivers approximately 500 miles southeast of Moscow. The wide river in the center of the image is the Volga. Samara, formerly Kuybyshev, is a busy industrial city known for its chemical, mechanical and petroleum industries. Northwest of the Volga (upper left corner of the image) are deciduous forests of the Samarskaya Luka National Park.
This 70mm frame shows the Panama Canal (center, between the two dark green belts) the main oceanic route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Also seen is a great deal of detail in Panama City (left center, on the Pacific Ocean coastline).
NASA has released two striking hi-res images of our planet, which the agency has dubbed the 'Blue Marble.' Here is how the photos were captured.
NASA's newest Earth-watching satellite is beaming back spectacular views of our home planet – huge mosaics of many images stitched together at the highest-resolution yet obtained. But there's a bit of science mojo at work to create the stunning photos.
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