Land Surface

Data

Find and use NASA Earth science data fully, openly, and without restrictions.

Atmosphere

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is a gaseous envelope surrounding and protecting our planet from the intense radiation of the Sun and serves as a key interface between the terrestrial and ocean cycles.
Biosphere

Biosphere

The biosphere encompasses all life on Earth and extends from root systems to mountaintops and all depths of the ocean. It is critical for maintaining species diversity, regulating climate, and providing numerous ecosystem functions.
Cryosphere

Cryosphere

The cryosphere encompasses the frozen parts of Earth, including glaciers and ice sheets, sea ice, and any other frozen body of water. The cryosphere plays a critical role in regulating climate and sea levels.
Human Dimensions

Human Dimensions

The human dimensions discipline includes ways humans interact with the environment and how these interactions impact Earth’s systems. It also explores the vulnerability of human communities to natural disasters and hazards.
Land Surface

Land Surface

The land surface discipline includes research into areas such as shrinking forests, warming land, and eroding soils. NASA data provide key information on land surface parameters and the ecological state of our planet.
Ocean

Ocean

This vast, critical reservoir supports a diversity of life and helps regulate Earth’s climate.
Solid Earth

Solid Earth

Processes occurring deep within Earth constantly are shaping landforms. Although originating from below the surface, these processes can be analyzed from ground, air, or space-based measurements.
Sun-Earth Interactions

Sun-Earth Interactions

The Sun influences a variety of physical and chemical processes in Earth’s atmosphere. NASA continually monitors solar radiation and its effect on the planet.
Terrestrial Hydrosphere

Terrestrial Hydrosphere

The terrestrial hydrosphere includes water on the land surface and underground in the form of lakes, rivers, and groundwater along with total water storage.

The land surface discipline includes research into areas such as shrinking forests, warming land, and eroding soils. Earth observing satellites provide key information on land surface parameters including surface temperature, land cover, land use, topography, soil moisture, vegetation cover and many other biophysical properties that provide the basis for characterizing the ecological state of Earth’s terrestrial areas. Understanding alterations to land surface characteristics is a priority outlined in the 2017 Decadal Survey, which informs NASA’s activities for implementing its mission to understand Earth as a living planet.

Definition source: University of Reading