weather impacts us alldata and images from NASA - earth observations of climate change

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Dust storm, ChinaDust obscuring most of the Liaoning region of China and parts of northern and western Korea. Left: March 23, 2002, a relatively clear day. Right: April 8, 2002, a day of extremely dusty skies. Storms transport mineral dust from the deserts of China and Mongolia over great distances, as well as pollution from agriculture, industry and power generation. Asian dust has been detected as far away as Colorado. Thick clouds of dust block substantial amounts of incoming sunlight, which in turn can influence marine phytoplankton production and have a cooling effect on regional climates. Images taken by NASA's Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR). Credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.

Fires, CaliforniaA series of wildfires erupted along the coastal region north of San Diego, California, in mid-May as a heat wave, drought and dry Santa Ana winds combined to create ideal fire conditions. The Bernardo Fire began on May 13 and several other fires followed. At one point, firefighters were battling at least eight active wildfires and more than 175,000 evacuation notices were issued. The left image shows the area before the fires began. The image on the right, in which red tones indicate burned areas, was acquired eight days later. Images taken by the Operational Land Imager onboard Landsat 8 and the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus onboard Landsat 7. Source: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Missions Gallery "Fires in California, USA," U.S. Department of the Interior / USGS and NASA.

Global warmingGlobal temperature changes. Left: 1880-1889. Right: 2000-2009. These maps compare temperatures in each region of the world to what they were from 1951 to 1980. NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies conducted the analysis using ship-based and satellite observations of sea-surface temperature, and data from Antarctic research stations and 6,300 meteorological stations around the world. Earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) since 1880. Two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15 to 0.20 °C per decade. Data from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory and Mike Carlowicz.

Ice melt, Italy / SwitzerlandThe nearly 15,000-ft-high Matterhorn mountain, located in the Alps on the border between Italy and Switzerland. Left: August 16, 1960 at 9.00 am. Right: August 18, 2005 at 9.10 am. 1960 photo taken by Bradford Washburn; 2005 photo taken by David Arnold. Source: Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA.

Muir Glacier melt, AlaskaMuir Glacier. Also see this image pair , this image pair and this image pair of the same glacier.

1941 photo taken by Ulysses William O. Field; 2004 photo taken by Bruce F. Molnia. Courtesy of the Glacier Photograph Collection, National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology. hide credits

Muir Glacier melt, AlaskaMuir Glacier. Also see this image pair, this image pair and this image pair of the same glacier. 1882 photo taken by G.D. Hazard; 2005 photo taken by Bruce F. Molnia. Courtesy of the Glacier Photograph Collection, National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology.

anticipate.coconfidence in chaos