Satellite View: A Year of Images of Earth

Throughout the year, NASA’s Earth Observatory and the European Space Agency publish images taken from a perspective rarely seen by human eyes — from satellites high above the earth’s surface. During 2008, these satellites captured extraordinary views of natural disasters, including raging fires in Russia and Argentina, and catastrophic flooding in Brazil and the U.S. They provided evidence of climate change (the disintegration of an Antarctic ice shelf) and illustrated the environmental consequences of human error (a 53,000-gallon oil spill in San Francisco Bay). And they showed that, at least viewed from a distance, powerful storm surges and sandstorms can be beautiful. Click here to see some of the year’s more memorable images.