In this view from aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour, a pair of the International Space Station‘s main solar arrays seemingly drape across the Earth’s horizon as the orbital lab soars 271 miles above the south Atlantic in between Argentina and South Africa.
Earth is a pale, blue dot when seen from space because our home planet is 71 percent water. NASA monitors Earth’s water from space, the skies, ground stations on land, ships sailing the seas and even with apps on mobile phones.
While Earth is so wet it looks blue from space, most of that water is saltwater. Less than three percent of Earth’s water is fresh water and nearly all of that water is frozen – locked up in polar ice caps, glaciers and other ice. The small amount of fresh water that remains is all that’s available for all the ways we use water.
Learn more: When It Comes to Water, You Have to Think Global
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Image Credit: NASA