Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating this website.

Suggested Searches

Thin stretches of dark green islands veer together like a capital A. Sandbars rim these islands in a pale blue, which becomes a vibrant teal as the water gets deeper before blending into the deep blue of the ocean.
Computer monitor displaying NASA’s Near Space Network DTE NOW interface with icons of ground antennas across North America. The screen highlights the Alaska Satellite Facility (AS1) with a photo of its dish antenna and location details in Fairbanks, Alaska. NASA and Near Space Network ground station maps appear blurred in the background control room.

Ames Earth Science Highlights

Each year, NASA’s Ames Research Center publishes a collection of Earth science highlights that reflect its innovative contributions to understanding our planet. These yearly highlights showcase advances in satellite technology, climate modeling, and environmental monitoring, offering insights into how Ames supports NASA’s broader mission to study Earth as an integrated system.

See 2025 Highlights about Ames Earth Science Highlights

Annual Highlights

Explore the annual highlights of NASA's Ames Research Center's Earth Science Division!

2025 Highlights
On the right is research scientist Morgan Gilmour, a white woman with dark blonde hair, black sunglasses on her head, and wearing a tan button-up shirt. She is reaching out to touch a white bird about the size of a football, with feathers on its back and scraggly fuzz on its head. The bird is sitting in a nest about shoulder height, and surrounded by branches and green vegetation.

2024 Highlights
The International Space Station was orbiting 263 miles above the Gulf of California just after the Canadarm2 robotic arm jettisoned the ILLUMA-T laser communications experiment into Earth orbit following the completion of its science operations and its removal from the Kibo laboratory module. ILLUMA-T was delivered to the space station aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft on Nov. 11, 2023 and installed on Kibo's external science pallet, or Exposed Facility, the following day.

2023 Highlights
An aerial view of a forested area. Green pine trees fill the space with red, orange, and yellow trees dotting in between them.

2022 Highlights
The sparsely populated, hot desert region of Western Australia near Neale Junction Nature Reserve is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 265 miles above the continental nation.

2021 Highlights
Four men in yellow long-sleeved shirts and hardhats gather around a woman with a brown braid over her shoulder, sitting at a table with a laptop. Everyone is looking at the laptop.

2020 Highlights
This is the one-millionth image taken during the Expedition 72 mission aboard the International Space Station. The clouds covering the island nation of Cuba hide its capital and largest city Havana (far left) on the Florida Strait. To the south are the marshlands and forests of Cuba's Zapata Swamp that leads to the Caribbean Sea. NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers took this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above the Bahamas.

2019 Highlights