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A V-shaped fjord cuts through barren brown land, with one patch of swirling water marked by white sea ice and another one colored turquoise by suspended sediment. Glacial ice flows into the fjord in several places.
The upper slopes of Mayon volcano appear brown, with several narrow channels radiating from the crater. A red infrared heat signature appears near the summit, with red streaks extending east and southeast. The lower slopes are green and forested. Farmland and towns are visible in the lower part of the image.
A thick layer of white snow blankets the Kamchatka Peninsula. Layers of clouds surround the peninsula, framing it but leaving its coastlines and a narrow portion of ocean visible around it. On land, several large, circular volcanoes dot the rugged landscape.

Earth Observatory

NASA's Earth Observatory brings you the Earth, every day – the images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate that emerge from NASA research.

Image of the Day

Elephant Butte Reservoir Runs Low
3 min read

Drought in the Rio Grande basin contributed to New Mexico’s largest reservoir dwindling to its lowest level in decades.

Aug 19, 2026
Lala Batters Hawaii
3 min read

The powerful storm delivered extreme rainfall and damaging winds to the state, passing the Island of Hawaiʻi as a category…

Aug 18, 2026
Chasing Fire Clouds in Utah
6 min read

NASA aircraft are sampling smoke lofted high into the atmosphere by one of the most formidable cloud types in the…

Aug 17, 2026

What is an El Niño?

If you want to understand how interconnected our planet is—how patterns and events in one place can affect life half a world away—study El Niño.

Learn more about What is an El Niño?

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