Tag: Earth

Trump administration cancels lease for NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies lab in New York City

NeRD

It would appear that the latest wave of U.S. federal program cuts fueled by the Trump administration has affected NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) lab in New York City, a branch of the agency dedicated to studying climate change and other Earth sciences. On Friday (April 25), news outlets such as CNN and SpaceNews reported that GISS’s lease on office space in a Columbia University building in Manhattan’s Upper West Side is set to be canceled. According to SpaceNews, an April 24 email sent to Goddard employees and…

Read More

NASA Airborne Sensor’s Wildfire Data Helps Firefighters Take Action

NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s AVIRIS-3 airborne imaging spectrometer was used to map a wildfire near Cas-tleberry, Alabama, on March 19. Within minutes, the image was transmitted to firefighters on the ground, who used it to contain the blaze. NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA Earth Observatory The map visualizes three wavelengths of infrared light, which are invisible to the human eye. Orange and red areas show cooler-burning areas, while yellow indicates the most intense flames. Burned areas show up as dark red or brown. NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA…

Read More

The newest GOES weather satellite in NOAA’s fleet is now fully operational (video)

NeRD

The final satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R weather satellite series has a new place in orbit … and a new name. The GOES-19 weather satellite, which launched into orbit in June 2024, has officially taken the place of its predecessor GOES-16 to watch over the Western Hemisphere from its perch 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above us. To mark the milestone, the satellite has the new name of GOES East to serve as the dominant geostationary satellite in the fleet, NOAA officials said in a statement. “With GOES-19 now in operation, NOAA…

Read More

North America is ‘dripping’ down into Earth’s mantle, scientists discover

NeRD

An ancient slab of Earth’s crust buried deep beneath the Midwest is sucking huge swatches of present-day’s North American crust down into the mantle, researchers say. The slab’s pull has created giant “drips” that hang from the underside of the continent down to about 400 miles (640 kilometers) deep inside the mantle, according to a new study. These drips are located beneath an area spanning from Michigan to Nebraska and Alabama, but their presence appears to be impacting the entire continent. The dripping area looks like a large funnel, with…

Read More

Earth’s sea ice hits all-time low, NASA satellites reveal

NeRD

New research from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Colorado measured Arctic sea ice cover on March 22, during what should’ve been its annual peak. In conclusion, the agency reported seeing 5.53 million square miles (14.33 million square kilometers) of sea ice — for context, that’s the lowest Arctic winter sea ice levels have ever been. To make matters worse, NASA scientists also discovered that, this year, summer ice in the Antarctic retreated to 764,000 square miles (1.98 million square kilometers) as of March 1,…

Read More

Next-Generation Water Satellite Maps Seafloor From Space

NeRD

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Located off the coast of Ecuador, Paramount seamount is among the kinds of ocean floor features that certain ocean-observing satellites like SWOT can detect by how their gravitational pull affects the sea surface. NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program More accurate maps based on data from the SWOT mission can improve underwater navigation and result in greater knowledge of how heat and life move around the world’s ocean. There are better maps of the Moon’s surface than of the bottom of…

Read More

NASA Researchers Study Coastal Wetlands, Champions of Carbon Capture

NeRD

Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Science Climate Change Air Quality Science in Action Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us 8 Min Read NASA Researchers Study Coastal Wetlands, Champions of Carbon Capture Florida’s coastal wetlands are a complex patchwork of ecosystem — consisting of sawgrass marshland, hardwood hammocks, freshwater swamps, and mangrove forests. Credits: NASA/ Nathan Marder Across the street from the Flamingo Visitor’s Center at the foot of Florida’s Everglades National Park, there was once a thriving mangrove population — part of the largest stand of…

Read More

NASA-ISRO Mission Will Map Farmland From Planting to Harvest

NeRD

The NISAR mission will help map crops and track their development through the entire growing season. Using synthetic aperture radar, the satellite will be able to observe both small plots of farmland and monitor trends across broad regions, gathering data to in-form agricultural decision making. Adobe Stock/Greg Kelton Data from the NISAR satellite will be used to map crop growth, track plant health, and monitor soil moisture — offering detailed, timely information for decision making. When it launches this year, the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite will provide a…

Read More

World’s largest iceberg runs aground in South Atlantic after 1,200-mile journey (satellite photos)

NeRD

Earth’s largest iceberg has run aground off the coast of South Georgia Island, a common rendezvous spot for large icebergs, new satellite images show. Measuring 1,240 square miles (3,460 square kilometers), the Antarctic iceberg A-23A has come to a grinding halt after a long and winding journey across the Scotia Sea, also known as “iceberg alley.” Satellite images taken at the beginning of March show the iceberg parked on a shallow underwater shelf off the coast of South Georgia Island, which is a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic…

Read More

Scientists discover Earth’s oldest impact crater in Australia

NeRD

Geologists have discovered the world’s oldest known impact crater; it sits in the heart of Western Australia’s ancient Pilbara region. An analysis of rock layers in the region suggests a crater at least 62 miles (100 kilometers) wide was carved after a large space rock struck Earth roughly 3.47 billion years ago, when our planet was almost completely covered in water. The discovery pushes back the record for the oldest impact crater on Earth by more than 1 billion years — the previous record holder, the Yarrabubba impact structure, also…

Read More