U.S. Geological Survey has publicly released more than 161,000 digitally scanned historical maps spanning more than 130 years and covering the coterminous lower 48 states.
Island Summit Induces Wave Clouds
This astronaut photograph illustrates the formation of wave clouds in the wake, or downwind side, of ÃŽle aux Cochons, often called Pig Island, in the southern Indian Ocean. The island's summit elevation is high enough to interact with cloud layers and flowing winds. Once air masses pass over the summit, they descend and may encounter alternating moist and dry air layers, enabling the formation of the discontinuous, chevron-shaped wave clouds.
Bright Rooftops Offer Big Relief for Urban Heat Islands
Researchers studying surface temperatures of black, white and green (vegetated) roofs in cities found a startling difference: black roofs can be up to 54 degrees hotter than a green or white roof.
Milestone Map Catalogs Fragile Arctic Sea Ice
After nearly a year and a half of operations, the European Space Agency's CryoSat satellite has yielded its first seasonal variation map of Arctic sea-ice thickness.
FAA Tells Who's Flying Drones in America
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released public records that show for the first time who currently is authorized to fly unmanned aircraft in the United States.
DigitalGlobe Delivers on EU Ag Deal
DigitalGlobe and its European partner satisfied two-thirds of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy needs for high-resolution imagery.
Giant Stripes Adorn African Strip
In far northeastern Namibia, there's a skinny stretch of land sandwiched between Angola, Botswana and Zambia where the land is striped, as if a giant had dragged a rake over the landscape. On Feb. 1, 2012, the Advanced Land Imager on NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite captured this natural-color image of the Caprivi Strip just north of the Okavango River.
Jumbo European Science Satellite Stalls
After celebrating 10 years of service on March 1, Envisat has stopped sending data to Earth. The European Space Agency is working to re-establish contact with the satellite.
Satellite Shows Higher Numbers of Penguins
Images acquired by DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite validate 595,000 Emperor Penguins in 44 colonies”seven of them never seen before”along Antarctica's coastline.
Kansas State Drone to Study Crop Needs
The Kansas State University Department of Agronomy will use its new unmanned aircraft system to study plant productivity, monitor plant growth stages, assess plant health, and map plant composition.
