Satellite imagery can be used to peer inside a storm as well as assess the storm’s outside shape to give forecasters understanding of what’s happening to it.

As Tropical Storm Lorena was nearing landfall in northwestern Mexico, NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided forecasters with an image of the storm. By Monday, Sept. 23, Lorena’s remnants were affecting the southern U.S. and bringing heavy rainfall to Arizona.

Forecasters use a variety of satellite imagery to understand what’s happening in a storm, and sometimes just a visible picture can tell a lot.

Tropical Storm Tapah had taken on an elongated shape as it moved through the Sea of Japan, between South Korea and Japan. 

A key theory that attributes the climate evolution of the Earth to the breakdown of Himalayan rocks may not explain the cooling over the past 15 million years, according to a Rutgers-led study.

Sea levels in many areas across the global ocean are rising.

Over millions of years, Earth’s summits and valleys have moved and shifted, resulting in the dramatic landscapes of peaks and shadows we know today. 

Around the globe, communities are concerned with rain and storms.

Once winter nights dip below freezing and the days warm up above freezing sap begins to flow in sugar maples marking the start of the syrup season. 

NASA’s Terra satellite is one in a fleet of NASA satellites that provide data for research.