Connected by Earth, Informed by Data

It's no secret that Earth's systems are interconnected. The Sun's solar radiation provides crops with the warmth they need to grow; oceans absorb atmospheric carbon through photosynthesis by phytoplankton, the foundation of the marine food web; melting snow and ice atop mountains replenish the headwaters of the world's rivers and restore groundwater; and dust blown into the atmosphere can influence the fertility of oceans and soils near and far. Yet, we often forget that this mixing and mingling of planetary processes has a direct and sometimes intense impact on our lives, especially in this era of climate change.

The same Saharan dust that fertilizes soils may determine whether a storm in the eastern Atlantic becomes a hurricane that reaches the United States. Mountain snowpacks replenish groundwater reserves, but they can also cause flooding and landslides if they melt too quickly. Increased amounts of atmospheric carbon are making the ocean more acidic, threatening the marine ecosystems we depend on for food. And although increased temperatures have extended the growing seasons in the United States, they can also lead to crop stress and increase drought. To keep tabs on the interactions between Earth's natural systems, forecast how they might be changing, and predict how such changes could impact the animal, plant, and human communities that depend on them, scientists rely on data from NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS).

Each of the scientists featured in this storymap uses NASA Earth science data to study a different aspect of the natural world, how climatic and environmental change are affecting it, and what the significance of these impacts might be. As you'll see, each scientist's work highlights the complexity of Earth's ecology; the benefit of having accurate, reliable, and long-term environmental data; and how, no matter where we live and what we do, each of us is connected by Earth.

Although dust particles are small (about 1 micrometer or less), atmospheric dust is a big deal. Consisting (mostly) of tiny pieces of metal oxides, clays, and carbonates, dust is the single largest component of the aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere and it has a significant effect on the Earth’s climate. Just how significant is what Dr. Gregory S. Jenkins, a Professor of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, Geography, and African Studies at Pennsylvania State University, is trying to find out. 

Through his studies on the impact of dust aerosols on cloud microphysics (the branch of the atmospheric sciences concerned with the many particles that make up a cloud), Jenkins and his team have found that Saharan dust may have a positive influence on tropical cyclone development by promoting stronger updrafts. At the same time, they note that the Saharan air layer, a mass of very dry, dusty air that forms over the Sahara Desert during the late spring, summer, and early fall, may also inhibit tropical cyclone development.  

 Read more about Dr. Jenkin’s research on aerosols and cyclone development 

• The OMPS Aerosol Index layer shows aerosols such as desert dust and soot particles in the atmosphere where reds and yellows indicate higher aerosol concentrations and beige and white indicate lower aerosol concentration values.
• Hover over the different colors in the image to see the corresponding aerosol index values.
• This imagery layer is useful for identifying dust from desert dust storms, tracking the long-range transport of ash from volcanic eruptions, smoke from wildfires, and even tracking aerosols over clouds and areas of snow and ice.

The Amazon is among the largest and most ecologically diverse swaths of tropical rainforest on the planet. It's also thought to be a major planetary carbon sink and a key component of the global carbon cycle. Yet, cattle ranching, logging, and agriculture have accelerated in the region, resulting in significant forest loss and degradation. To quantify how much forestland is lost each year, scientists use data from Earth-observing satellites. When examined over time satellite imagery can reveal areas of forest loss by showing where heavily forested areas (dark green) are decreasing and giving way to other plants (light green) or expanding patches of brown earth.

Dr. Eric Bullock, a post-doctoral researcher at Boston University's Center for Remote Sensing, uses Earth observation data to explore the consequences of land use and land cover change in the Amazon and other highly diverse ecosystems. Dr. Bullock relies on EOSDIS data to study the effect of forest disturbance on the global carbon cycle, characterize the effects of climate change and land use on ecosystem structure and dynamics, monitor the resiliency of mangroves to climate change, and estimate the effectiveness of sustainable development programs designed to lessen the impact of human activity in the world's critical ecosystems.

 Read about Dr. Bullock’s research on land use change in the Amazon 

• Areas with a lot of vegetation (shown in dark green) indicate the presence of chlorophyll, which reflects more infrared light and less visible light. Areas with some vegetation are shown in light greens and areas with little to no vegetation growth (such as deserts and high mountain ranges) are depicted in tan colors.
• Go to a dark green area on the map, zoom in using the "+ " sign and notice the variations in vegetation density.
• Explore your region of interest by typing into the location search bar in the upper right corner.

Although microscopic, cyanobacteria (also referred to as blue-green algae) can cause big problems. When fresh or saltwater becomes warm, stagnant, and rich in phosphorus and nitrogen, these single-celled organisms can multiply rapidly and form extensive “blooms." Blooms typically occur during late summer or early fall but can occur anytime during the year. When they do, they can turn the color of surface water to a bluish-green, red, or brown, and may be accompanied by a layer of foul extraneous matter floating on the surface, resulting in a rotting plant-like odor. Not all algal blooms are harmful, but cyanobacterial algal blooms can become hazardous when the cyanotoxins the organisms produce reach concentrations that are dangerous to people, marine life, and the environment. These toxic blooms are known as "harmful algal blooms" or HABs, and when they're large and colorful enough, they can be detected and tracked by instruments aboard Earth-observing satellites. 

Dr. Bridget Seegers, an oceanographer with the Universities Space Research Association and Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, uses ocean-color data in her work with the Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) Project, a joint undertaking of NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). CyAN Project scientists are using current and historic satellite data to detect algal blooms in United States freshwater systems. Their goal is to develop data products that will serve as an “early warning system” for detecting cyanobacteria blooms and related water quality issues that threaten ecosystem function, public health, recreational opportunities, and water supplies across the contiguous United States. 

 Explore Dr. Seeger's research on harmful algal blooms 

• Areas shown in red, orange and yellow indicate high chlorophyll-a concentration, or areas rich in phytoplankton, whereas lower concentrations of chlorophyll-a appear in purple or shades of blue, indicating areas with lower amounts of phytoplankton. 
• Click on the downward-facing arrow next to the "x" on the right of the animation widget to minimize this control.
• After minimizing the control, Press the "Play" button above the date in the lower-left corner to view changes in chlorophyll-a concentration, or ocean productivity, between May 14, 2020- April 1, 2021.  

If you want to know where you're likely to find a particular animal or plant species, the first thing to do is consult a range map indicating the general area in which members of that species have been seen. However, if you want to know why an animal or plant can be found in a particular area, you'd need more information about that species' relationship with its environment.  

Dr. Monica Papeş, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, tries to answer the "whys" of a species' geographic distribution by incorporating Earth observation data into her research.

With its ability to provide data over regional and continental spatial scales and document the environmental change over time, remotely-sensed data inform her work to better understand how species are distributed across broad spatial scales, develop ecological models that take into account seasonality and the effects of this seasonality on animal distributions, and integrate information about a species' relationship with its environment into studies of its range.

 Read about Dr. Papeş' work studying geographic species distribution 

• The left side of this Worldview comparison shows the global land cover type and the right side shows global mammal richness for all species.
• To see the correlation between land cover and mammal richness for a specific region, zoom into your area of interest, and drag the slider to the left or right. 
• For example, zoom into the Amazon region of northern South America. Move the slider back and forth and note that the most prevalent land cover type (evergreen broadleaf forests) also happens to have very high mammal richness, shown in shades of red and magenta.

Ice caps, glaciers, permafrost, and sea ice play an important role in the Earth’s climate. Snow and ice reflect heat from the sun, helping to regulate the planet’s temperature. Yet, as the climate warms the cryosphere's snow and ice are melting, making it one of the first places where scientists observe the impacts of global climate change. 

Among those scientists is Dr. Joan Ramage, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, whose research concentrates on measuring when and where glaciers and seasonal snow are melting, and the impacts of this on mountain hydrology, glacier mass balance, and glacier dynamics. Given the role of glaciers in shaping the landscape, delivering nutrients to surface waters, and replenishing reserves of drinking and groundwater, this is important work. Fortunately, Dr. Ramage and her colleagues are able to access an ever-increasing trove of remotely sensed data and imagery to supplement their field investigations and modeling of the cryosphere in some of the most remote and inhospitable environments on the planet.

 Learn how Dr. Ramage uses field campaign and satellite data to study Earth's cryosphere 

• The Arctic projection of this NASA Aqua MODIS Corrected Reflectance image shows Spring’s arrival at the North Pole.
• If you’re wondering why there’s a hole in the center of this image, it’s because when the Arctic and Antarctic regions are in their respective winter times, they receive very little to no sunlight. This means that there is no reflected sunlight for the sensor to capture and the land surface reflectance and corrected reflectance imagery layers are going to show a "hole" in the center of the images.
• To advance the date, click on the arrow in the bottom left corner. As you advance the date, you can see the black hole shrink as the amount of daylight reaching the northern latitudes increases.

Lava flows, the red-hot, fiery ooze let loose by erupting volcanoes, consist of molten rock that can reach temperatures of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit or more. And although they tend to be slow-moving, what they lack in speed they make up for in destructive power. Lava flows can consume everything in their path — forests, buildings, roads, infrastructure —and as human settlement continues to encroach on the volcanoes in Hawaii and other populated regions, the chances of human-lava interactions increase along with it. To keep people safe, volcanologists work in concert with members of the disaster management community to improve eruption forecasts and develop models to predict where lava flows might go.

Dr. Mike Ramsey, Professor of Volcanology and Planetary Science in the Department of Geology and Environmental Science at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania is among the scientists engaged in this work. His current research focuses on the characteristics of volcanic products like lava, which can reveal fundamental information about its molecular structure and govern its cooling process. This information, in turn, can be used to improve eruption forecasting and for developing models that predict the path of lava flow. To do this work, Ramsey relies on a combination of data from Earth-observing satellites and ground-based observation to help him better understand the physical processes governing molten rock and contribute to the development of tools and instruments scientists and public officials can use to monitor volcanic activity.

 Read how Dr. Mike Ramsey uses Earth science data to monitor volcanic activity 

• The eruption of Kilauea in started in March 2018, and lasted until August 2018. resulting in the collapse of the caldera and lava flows on the eastern tip of the island.
• This false-color band combination is most useful for distinguishing burn scars from naturally low vegetation or bare soil and enhancing floods.
• Turn on the "Fires/Thermal Anomalies " layer by clicking on the "eye" icon to see the lava extent on the date of imagery acquisition.
• Each thermal anomaly/fire is represented as a red point (approximate center of a 375 m pixel). 

Health and Air Quality

•  Data Pathfinder 

•  Articles 

•  Track Dust Storms and Monitor Air Quality with Near Real-Time Data 

•  Webinar: A Clearer View of the Haze – Using NASA GES DISC Data Tools to Examine the June 2020 Sahara Dust Event over Barbados 

Agricultural and Water Resources

•  Data Pathfinder 

Biological Diversity and Ecological Forecasting

•  Data Pathfinder 

•  Data Toolkit 

•  Articles 

•  Webinar: Find and Use GEDI, You Will—Getting Started with Global Ecosystems Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Lidar Data 

Water Quality

•  Data Pathfinder 

•  Articles 

Ocean Biology/Ocean Color

•  Webinar: The History and Evolution of Satellite Remote Sensing Ocean Color Science  

•  Webinar: Discover NASA Ocean Color Data, Services and Tools 

Biological Diversity and Ecological Forecasting

•  Data Toolkit 

•  Data Pathfinder 

•  Articles 

Cryosphere and Sea Level Change

•  Data Pathfinder 

•  Articles 

Snow and Ice, Cryosphere and Climate

•  Webinar: Explore, Customize, and Access ICESat-2 Data at NASA's National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC (NSIDC DAAC) 

•  Webinar: Let it Snow! Accessing and Analyzing Snow Data at the NSIDC DAAC 

•  Satellite Observations of Arctic Change 

•  Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis 

•  Greenland Ice Sheet Today 

Hazards: Volcanoes

 Data Pathfinder 

 Data Toolkit 

 Articles 

 Webinar: Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Data (Part 1) 

 Webinar: Applications of SAR Data in GIS Environments (Part 2)