Burn scars on Evia, the second-largest Greek island, where fires burned hot in August, charring more than 120,000 acres. NASA
NASA’s Earth Observatory regularly publishes striking satellite images of our rapidly changing planet, this year showing everything from the massive fires in Greece and California to the historic floods in China and the Netherlands. These photos document the ways humans are remaking the planet, both by building dams, cities, and farms, and by fueling climate change, which, in turn, is spurring more drought, wildfires, floods, and other disasters. See how the Earth has changed in images taken over the past year.
Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border in August 2000 (left) and August 2021 (right). The southwest is in the 22nd year of a megadrought. NASA
California's Sierra Nevada, where the Dixie fire burned from July to October, consuming close to 1 million acres. The Dixie fire is the second-largest in California history. NASA
The Nile Delta in 1984 (left) and 2021 (right). The population of Egypt has more than doubled since the 1980s, rising from 45 million to more than 100 million today. Just 4 percent of Egypt’s land is suitable for farming, and that area is shrinking as cities rapidly expand. NASA
Jakarta, Indonesia in 1990 (left) and 2021 (right). As the city has grown, it has also sunk, thanks to over-pumping of groundwater. The spread of concrete has made the city more vulnerable to floods as the hard surface doesn't absorb water like the forests and grasslands it replaced. Now, rising seas are further upping the risk of flooding. NASA
The Meuse River in the southeast corner of the Netherlands, before (left) and (after) an intense rainstorm hit the region in July, flooding the river and forcing nearly 5,000 people to evacuate the town of Roermond. NASA
California's Lake Oroville in June 2020. Water flowing from the Sierra Nevada mountains is collected in the dam and then distributed to farms in the Central Valley. Drought has lowered water levels in the reservoir, while wildfires have burned the surrounding forest.
Lago das Brisas, a reservoir in southern Brazil, in June 2019 (left) and June 2021 (right). The region is enduring its worst drought in almost a century. NASA
