research topics about earth science

Humans in Space

Earth & climate, the solar system, the universe, aeronautics, learning resources, news & events.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur

Hollywood Techniques Help NASA Visualize Supercomputing Data

What’s Up: November 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA

Search All NASA Missions
A to Z List of Missions
Upcoming Launches and Landings
Spaceships and Rockets
Communicating with Missions
James Webb Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
Why Go to Space
Commercial Space
Destinations
Living in Space
Explore Earth Science
Earth, Our Planet
Earth Science in Action
Earth Multimedia
Earth Science Researchers
Pluto & Dwarf Planets
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
The Kuiper Belt
The Oort Cloud
Skywatching
The Search for Life in the Universe
Black Holes
The Big Bang
Dark Energy & Dark Matter
Earth Science
Planetary Science
Astrophysics & Space Science
The Sun & Heliophysics
Biological & Physical Sciences
Lunar Science
Citizen Science
Astromaterials
Aeronautics Research
Human Space Travel Research
Science in the Air
NASA Aircraft
Flight Innovation
Supersonic Flight
Air Traffic Solutions
Green Aviation Tech
Drones & You
Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
Space Travel Technology
Technology Living in Space
Manufacturing and Materials
Science Instruments
For Kids and Students
For Educators
For Colleges and Universities
For Professionals
Science for Everyone
Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, or Speakers
STEM Engagement at NASA
NASA's Impacts
Centers and Facilities
Directorates
Organizations
People of NASA
Internships
Our History
Doing Business with NASA
Get Involved

NASA en Español

Aeronáutica
Ciencias Terrestres
Sistema Solar
All NASA News
Video Series on NASA+
Newsletters
Social Media
Media Resources
Upcoming Launches & Landings
Virtual Guest Program
Image of the Day
Sounds and Ringtones
Interactives
STEM Multimedia

Hubble Takes a Look at Tangled Galaxies

NASA’s EMIT collected this hyperspectral image of the Amazon River in northern Brazil

NASA’s EMIT Will Explore Diverse Science Questions on Extended Mission

A close-up of a conduction chamber for testing the heat conduction properties of materials and equipment to be used in Artemis missions.

NASA Marshall Thermal Engineering Lab Provides Key Insight to Human Landing System

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Nick Hague pedals on the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (CEVIS), an exercise cycle located aboard the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory module. CEVIS provides aerobic and cardiovascular conditioning through recumbent (leaning back position) or upright cycling activities.

Preguntas frecuentes: La verdadera historia del cuidado de la salud de los astronautas en el espacio

Faq: the real story about astronaut health care in space.

Amendment 70: New Opportunity: A.62 FarmFlux Science Team

5 Surprising NASA Heliophysics Discoveries Not Related to the Sun

NASA’s Brad Doorn Brings Farm Belt Wisdom to Space-Age Agriculture

An image from a 3D simulation showing the evolution of turbulent flows in the upper layers of the Sun. The more saturated and bright reds represent the most vigorous upward or downward twisting motions. Clear areas represent areas where there is only relatively slow up-flows, with very little twisting.

Ready, Set, Action! Our Sun is the Star in Dazzling Simulation

A prototype of a robot designed to explore subsurface oceans of icy moons

NASA Ocean World Explorers Have to Swim Before They Can Fly

Hubble Captures an Edge-On Spiral with Curve Appeal

NASA’s Hubble Finds Sizzling Details About Young Star FU Orionis

The guitar shape in the “Guitar Nebula” comes from bubbles blown by particles ejected from the pulsar through a steady wind as it moves through space. Images from Chandra taken in 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2021 have been combined with a single image in optical light from Palomar. X-rays from Chandra show a filament of energetic matter and antimatter particles, about two light-years long, blasting away from the pulsar (seen as the bright white dot). The movie shows how this filament has changed over two decades. An inset shows a closeup of the “guitar head” from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope also changing over time from 1994-2021.

NASA’s Chandra, Hubble Tune Into ‘Flame-Throwing’ Guitar Nebula

A diagram of the left- and right-hand versions of an amino acid.

NASA: Mystery of Life’s Handedness Deepens

A woman wearing a black polo shirt with the NASA insignia, dark gray pants, and white shoes stands inside an aircraft hangar in front of a scaled aircraft model. The words “SUSAN Electrofan” and “PAX 180” are printed on a graphic along with fuselage, with a large NASA insignia in the center of the plane. The rear of the aircraft model, along with the wings and tail, are taken apart to display the inner components that make up its electrified propulsion system.

NASA Engineer Carries Indigenous Roots into New Aviation Era

A white building surrounded by external equipment in front of a blue sky with clouds.

NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT)

A blue circle with white type displaying the NASA acronym encircled by a white swoosh and a red arrow.

Dynamic Spin Rig Publications

Illustration of the BioSentinel spacecraft, flying past the Moon with the CubeSat's solar arrays fully deployed, facing the Sun.

What is BioSentinel?

Making Mars’ Moons: Supercomputers Offer ‘Disruptive’ New Explanation

Students at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory pose for photos around the laboratory wearing their eclipse glasses.

Why NASA Is a Great Place to Launch Your Career

Northwestern University team members pose with lunar inflatable prototypes from their METALS project in NASA’s 2024 BIG Idea Challenge.

Northwestern University Takes Top Honors in BIG Idea Lunar Inflatables Challenge

Robert “Bobby” L. Satcher lubricates the robotic arm’s Latching End Effector

15 Years Ago: STS-129 Delivers Cargo on the Third Utilization and Logistics Flight

View from outside a large run stall. The 100-foot-long X-59 sits in the run stall with the engine and the rest of the back of the aircraft sitting outside the run stall’s open bay door.

El X-59 enciende su motor por primera vez rumbo al despegue

A view of the front of a bustling event tent outfitted with NASA flags and insignia. The tent is centered in the photo and sits atop a concrete airfield, where many people are walking in and out of the tent. A grey-white overcast sky is behind and above the tent.

La NASA lleva un dron y un rover espacial a un espectáculo aéreo

A man wearing a gray NASA shirt posing to the left of a subscale model or an aircraft that is orange and white with the NASA meatball on it. In the background, there are aviation posters located on the wall and another subscale model on display that is yellow and red.

Destacado de la NASA: Felipe Valdez, un ingeniero inspirador

Research topics.

The Earth Science Division at NASA Ames performs a breadth of research that deepens humanity’s understanding of the planet and the processes within.

The Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Ames Research Center is the organization assigned responsibility to meet the Agency’s Earth science goals. The Division accomplishes its task through programs in research and applied science that develop and test new tools and techniques for observing the Earth from space; applying these observations to better understand fundamental Earth processes at global and regional scales; and using these observations and their research conclusions to benefit society by enhancing decision making in a world of rapid and unanticipated change.

Nine topics comprise NASA’s Earth science research program: ocean science, terrestrial ecology, atmospheric composition and dynamics, climate science, water resources, Earth surface and interior, fire science, instrument development, and airborne science. In support of these research areas, the Earth Science Division develops, launches and operates research instruments on spaceborne and airborne platforms; maintains data systems and archives to generate data products from the observations that are available to the research community and the public; and develops and applies models combining NASA observations with other data for greater insight on fundamental Earth processes and better prediction of future change.

Research Topics:

Airborne Science

Atmospheric Composition and Dynamics

Climate Science

photo of orange lava flowing over the ground from Kilauea vent in the distance

Earth Surface and Interior

Ecology and Landscape Change

A group of roughly 20 firefighters walk in a line away from the camera, in yellow longsleeve shirts and white hard hats. There is brown shrubbery in the foreground, and the group is walking toward a copse of trees in the distance which is partially obscured by tan smoke, which also fills the sky.

Fire Science

Instrument Development

Shallow coral reef sea turtle and fish underwater

Ocean Science

An aerial photo of a Greenland ice sheet, with smooth blue-white ice in the upper half of the image. The sea appears as a vivid turquoise body of water in the lower left, with rivers and rivulets of turquoise water extending inland across the ice, curving and winding up toward the upper right corner.

Water Resources

Research Topics List

JPL's charter is to conduct robotic space missions for NASA, to explore our own and neighboring planetary systems, understand the origin and evolution of the universe and make critical measurements to understand our home planet and help protect it. We do this by developing integrated capabilities in engineering, science and technology, in a unique environment that strives for excellence in any of the three areas. To be successful in our ability to implement missions for NASA, we foster research in those areas of space-based science that establish our leadership in the science community and those technologies that allow the innovations that are crucial to maintaining our competitive edge. Our science, technology and engineering research covers many areas of planetary, astrophysics and Earth science, both as basic research leading to new observations and mission concepts, as well as research based on the data acquired by JPL flight projects. Our technology research covers areas ranging from robotic systems, a range of in-situ and remote sensing instruments, deep space communications and navigation, information systems, precision flying and planetary protection and survivability.

Suggested Searches