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• Geosciences LibreTexts - Earth's Interior
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• CIA - The World Factbook - World
• Space.com - Planet Earth: Facts about our home planet
• Earth - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
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What is Earth?

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest planet in the solar system in terms of size and mass. Its near-surface environments are the only places in the universe known to harbour life.

Where is Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy?

Earth is located in the Orion-Cygnus Arm, one of the four spiral arms of the Milky Way , which lies about two-thirds of the way from the centre of the Galaxy.

What is Earth named for?

Earth’s name in English, the international language of astronomy , derives from Old English and Germanic words for ground and earth , and it is the only name for a planet of the solar system that does not come from Greco-Roman mythology.

What was Earth like when it was first formed?

Earth and the other planets in the solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago. The early Earth had no ozone layer and no free oxygen, lacked oceans, and was very hot.

Viewed from another planet, Earth would appear bright and bluish in colour. In latitudinal belts, swirling white cloud patterns of midlatitude and tropical storms can be seen. The polar regions would appear white because of ice, the oceans a dark blue-black, the deserts a tawny beige, and forests and jungles a vibrant green.

Recent News

Earth , third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest planet in the solar system in terms of size and mass. Its single most outstanding feature is that its near-surface environments are the only places in the universe known to harbour life. It is designated by the symbol ♁. Earth’s name in English , the international language of astronomy , derives from Old English and Germanic words for ground and earth , and it is the only name for a planet of the solar system that does not come from Greco-Roman mythology. Earth is part of the " observable universe ," the region of space that humans can actually or theoretically observe with the aid of technology . Unlike the observable universe, the universe is possibly infinite .

Since the Copernican revolution of the 16th century, at which time the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a Sun-centred model of the universe ( see heliocentric system ), enlightened thinkers have regarded Earth as a planet like the others of the solar system. Concurrent sea voyages provided practical proof that Earth is a globe, just as Galileo ’s use of his newly invented telescope in the early 17th century soon showed various other planets to be globes as well. It was only after the dawn of the space age, however, when photographs from rockets and orbiting spacecraft first captured the dramatic curvature of Earth’s horizon , that the conception of Earth as a roughly spherical planet rather than as a flat entity was verified by direct human observation. Humans first witnessed Earth as a complete orb floating in the inky blackness of space in December 1968 when Apollo 8 carried astronauts around the Moon . Robotic space probes on their way to destinations beyond Earth, such as the Galileo and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft in the 1990s, also looked back with their cameras to provide other unique portraits of the planet.

Viewed from another planet in the solar system, Earth would appear bright and bluish in colour. Easiest to see through a large telescope would be its atmospheric features, chiefly the swirling white cloud patterns of midlatitude and tropical storms , ranged in roughly latitudinal belts around the planet . The polar regions also would appear a brilliant white, because of the clouds above and the snow and ice below. Beneath the changing patterns of clouds would appear the much darker blue-black oceans, interrupted by occasional tawny patches of desert lands. The green landscapes that harbour most human life would not be easily seen from space. Not only do they constitute a modest fraction of the land area, which itself is less than one-third of Earth’s surface, but they are often obscured by clouds . Over the course of the seasons, some changes in the storm patterns and cloud belts on Earth would be observed. Also prominent would be the growth and recession of the winter snowcap across land areas of the Northern Hemisphere.

Scientists have applied the full battery of modern instrumentation to studying Earth in ways that have not yet been possible for the other planets; thus, much more is known about its structure and composition . This detailed knowledge, in turn, provides deeper insight into the mechanisms by which planets in general cool down, by which their magnetic fields are generated, and by which the separation of lighter elements from heavier ones as planets develop their internal structure releases additional energy for geologic processes and alters crustal compositions .

Earth’s surface is traditionally subdivided into seven continental masses: Africa , Antarctica , Asia , Australia , Europe , North America , and South America . These continents are surrounded by five major bodies of water: the Arctic , Atlantic , Indian , Pacific , and Southern oceans. However, it is convenient to consider separate parts of Earth in terms of concentric, roughly spherical layers. Extending from the interior outward, these are the core, the mantle, the crust (including the rocky surface), the hydrosphere (predominantly the oceans , which fill in low places in the crust), the atmosphere (itself divided into spherical zones such as the troposphere , where weather occurs, and the stratosphere , where lies the ozone layer that shields Earth’s surface and its organisms against the Sun ’s ultraviolet rays), and the magnetosphere (an enormous region in space where Earth’s magnetic field dominates the behaviour of electrically charged particles coming from the Sun).

Knowledge about these divisions is summarized in this astronomically oriented overview. The discussion complements other treatments oriented to the Earth sciences and life sciences. Earth’s figure and dimensions are discussed in the article geodesy . Its magnetic field is treated in the article geomagnetic field . The early evolution of the solid Earth and its atmosphere and oceans is covered in geologic history of Earth . The geologic and biological development of Earth, including its surface features and the processes by which they are created and modified, are discussed in geochronology , continental landform , and plate tectonics . The behaviour of the atmosphere and of its tenuous , ionized outer reaches is treated in atmosphere , while the water cycle and major hydrologic features are described in hydrosphere , ocean , and river . The solid Earth as a field of study is covered in geologic sciences , the methods and instruments employed to investigate Earth’s surface and interior are discussed in Earth exploration , and the history of the study of Earth from antiquity to modern times is surveyed in Earth sciences . The global ecosystem of living organisms and their life-supporting stratum are detailed in biosphere .

All About Earth

Our home planet Earth is a rocky, terrestrial planet. It has a solid and active surface with mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is special because it is an ocean planet. Water covers 70% of Earth's surface.

Explore Earth! Click and drag to rotate Earth. Scroll or pinch to zoom in and out. Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)

Our atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe. The atmosphere also protects us from incoming meteoroids , most of which break up in our atmosphere before they can strike the surface as meteorites.

Since we live here, you might think we know all there is to know about Earth. Not at all, actually! We have a lot we can learn about our home planet. Right now, there are many satellites orbiting Earth taking pictures and measurements. This is how we can learn more about weather, oceans, soil, climate change , and many other important topics.

Structure and Surface

• Earth is a terrestrial planet. It is small and rocky.
• Earth's atmosphere is the right thickness to keep the planet warm so living things like us can be there. It’s the only planet in our solar system we know of that supports life. It is mostly nitrogen, and it has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe.

Time on Earth

• A day on Earth lasts a little under 24 hours.
• One year on Earth lasts 365.25 days. That 0.25 extra means every four years we need to add one day to our calendar. We call it a leap day (in a leap year ).

Earth’s Neighbors

• Earth has just one Moon. It is the only planet to have just one moon.
• Earth has lots of spacecraft watching it. There is still a lot we can learn about our home planet.
• Earth is the third planet from the Sun in our solar system. That means Venus and Mars are Earth’s neighboring planets.

Quick History

• We have known about our planet since ancient times, of course. But we didn’t know our place in the solar system for a long time.

What does Earth look like?

This Apollo 11 picture taken by an astronaut in 1969 shows the Earth rising over the Moon. Doesn't it look small?

This is a view of Earth looking just at the northern portion.

A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite took this picture of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.

For more information visit:

Earth. Your home. Our Mission.

Related Resources for Educators

Real World: A-Train Our World: A-Train Real World: Earth Systems

Explore the Solar System

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Facts about the Earth

Learn all about our amazing planet….

Earth, our wonderful world! But how much do you know about the planet we call home? Let’s find out with our fascinating facts about the Earth…

• 1) Earth is the third planet from the sun in our solar system . Its name comes from the the old English and Germanic words meaning ‘ the ground ’.

• 3) Like all the planets, Earth orbits (travels around) around the sun . And it does so at some serious speed –– around 30 kilometres per second , in fact! It takes 365 days (one year) for the Earth to complete one full orbit.  

• 5) Not only does Earth zoom through space , it also spins on its axis . The result? We have daytime and nighttime ! As the planet rotates, the side facing the sun receives daylight and the the other is in darkness.
• 6) People often think of Earth as a gigantic sphere. But, in fact, its shape is more like a squished ball  that bulges out at the equator  –– an imaginary line around the middle of the planet, exactly between the North Pole and the South Pole .  

• 8)  The  Earth’s diameter (distance straight through the middle) measures a huge 12,800 kilometres , making it the fifth largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune are even bigger!

• 10) Earth’s ‘ atmosphere ’ is also hugely important for sustaining life. The atmosphere is a huge blanket of gases – mostly oxygen and nitrogen  – wrapped around Earth, protecting  our planet from the sun’s strong rays.  At the same time, the atmosphere helps keep the Earth’s temperature comfortable for living beings – and it  protects us from meteors , too!

What did you think about our facts about the Earth? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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Planet Earth, explained

Our home planet provides us with life and protects us from space.

Earth, our home planet, is a world unlike any other. The third planet from the sun, Earth is the only place in the known universe confirmed to host life.

With a radius of 3,959 miles, Earth is the fifth largest planet in our solar system, and it's the only one known for sure to have liquid water on its surface. Earth is also unique in terms of monikers. Every other solar system planet was named for a Greek or Roman deity, but for at least a thousand years, some cultures have described our world using the Germanic word “earth,” which means simply “the ground.”

Our dance around the sun

Earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. Since our calendar years have only 365 days, we add an extra leap day every four years to account for the difference.

Though we can't feel it, Earth zooms through its orbit at an average velocity of 18.5 miles a second. During this circuit, our planet is an average of 93 million miles away from the sun, a distance that takes light about eight minutes to traverse. Astronomers define this distance as one astronomical unit (AU), a measure that serves as a handy cosmic yardstick.

Earth rotates on its axis every 23.9 hours, defining day and night for surface dwellers. This axis of rotation is tilted 23.4 degrees away from the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun, giving us seasons. Whichever hemisphere is tilted closer to the sun experiences summer, while the hemisphere tilted away gets winter. In the spring and fall, each hemisphere receives similar amounts of light. On two specific dates each year—called the equinoxes—both hemispheres get illuminated equally.

Many layers, many features

About 4.5 billion years ago, gravity coaxed Earth to form from the gaseous, dusty disk that surrounded our young sun. Over time, Earth's interior—which is made mostly of silicate rocks and metals—differentiated into four layers.

At the planet's heart lies the inner core, a solid sphere of iron and nickel that's 759 miles wide and as hot as 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The inner core is surrounded by the outer core, a 1,400-mile-thick band of iron and nickel fluids. Beyond the outer core lies the mantle, a 1,800-mile-thick layer of viscous molten rock on which Earth's outermost layer, the crust, rests. On land, the continental crust is an average of 19 miles thick, but the oceanic crust that forms the seafloor is thinner—about three miles thick—and denser.

Like Venus and Mars, Earth has mountains, valleys, and volcanoes. But unlike its rocky siblings, almost 70 percent of Earth's surface is covered in oceans of liquid water that average 2.5 miles deep. These bodies of water contain 97 percent of Earth's volcanoes and the mid-ocean ridge , a massive mountain range more than 40,000 miles long.

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Earth's crust and upper mantle are divided into massive plates that grind against each other in slow motion. As these plates collide, tear apart, or slide past each other, they give rise to our very active geology. Earthquakes rumble as these plates snag and slip past each other. Many volcanoes form as seafloor crust smashes into and slides beneath continental crust. When plates of continental crust collide, mountain ranges such as the Himalaya are pushed toward the skies.

Protective fields and gases

Earth's atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and one percent other gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and argon. Much like a greenhouse, this blanket of gases absorbs and retains heat. On average, Earth's surface temperature is about 57 degrees Fahrenheit; without our atmosphere, it'd be zero degrees . In the last two centuries, humans have added enough greenhouse gases to the atmosphere to raise Earth's average temperature by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit . This extra heat has altered Earth's weather patterns in many ways .

The atmosphere not only nourishes life on Earth, but it also protects it: It's thick enough that many meteorites burn up before impact from friction, and its gases—such as ozone—block DNA-damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the surface. But for all that our atmosphere does, it's surprisingly thin. Ninety percent of Earth's atmosphere lies within just 10 miles of the planet's surface .

The silhouette of a woman is seen on a Norwegian island beneath the Northern Lights ( aurora borealis ).

We also enjoy protection from Earth's magnetic field, generated by our planet's rotation and its iron-nickel core. This teardrop-shaped field shields Earth from high-energy particles launched at us from the sun and elsewhere in the cosmos. But due to the field's structure, some particles get funneled to Earth's Poles and collide with our atmosphere, yielding aurorae, the natural fireworks show known by some as the northern lights.

Spaceship Earth

Earth is the planet we have the best opportunity to understand in detail—helping us see how other rocky planets behave, even those orbiting distant stars. As a result, scientists are increasingly monitoring Earth from space. NASA alone has dozens of missions dedicated to solving our planet's mysteries.

At the same time, telescopes are gazing outward to find other Earths. Thanks to instruments such as NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have found more than 3,800 planets orbiting other stars, some of which are about the size of Earth , and a handful of which orbit in the zones around their stars that are just the right temperature to be potentially habitable. Other missions, such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, are poised to find even more.

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Earth Day free ppt and Google Slides template.

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Free Earth Day animated template for Google Slides and PowerPoint.

You can use this PowerPoint template and Google Slides theme to raise awareness of environmental issues. It features beautiful visuals and resources of planet Earth, which you can customize freely to make the presentation your own.

Earth Day is an annual global event celebrated on April 22nd to raise awareness about environmental protection’s importance, promote sustainable practices and encourages education, stewardship, and action for the planet’s natural resources and biodiversity.

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Earth is the only planet known to maintain life. Find out the origins of our home planet and some of the key ingredients that help make this blue speck in space a unique global ecosystem.

Anthropology, Earth Science, Astronomy, Social Studies, World History

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Origin and Structure of the Earth

Nov 05, 2014

2.49k likes | 6.46k Views

Origin and Structure of the Earth. Marshak – Chapter 1 (plus an introduction to Chapter 2). The Earth is part of the solar system and thus most likely formed at the same time…. So, what do we know about the solar system and it’s structure?

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• lithosphere
• plate boundaries
• plate tectonics
• lithosphere created
• divergent plate boundaries
• forces drive plate tectonics

Presentation Transcript

Origin and Structureof the Earth Marshak – Chapter 1 (plus an introduction to Chapter 2)

The Earth is part of the solar system and thus most likely formed at the same time… So, what do we know about the solar system and it’s structure? These are the observations which are needed to come up with an idea (hypothesis) for how the solar system (and Earth) formed.

Formation of the solar system and differentiation of Earth • Hypotheses must satisfy observations: planets orbit sun in one direction, axes of rotation nearly perpendicular to orbit, most planets rotate in same direction as orbit about sun, >99% solar system mass in sun, ~99% solar system angular momentum in planets • Inner Terrestrial - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars • Outer Jovian - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto? • Terrestrial – dense, rocky, >3 g cm3, Mg, Fe, Si, K, Ca, metals combined with O • Jovian - “gassy” <~1.5 g cm3, ice, H, He, CH4 methane CO2 • Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, source of meteorites

Origin of our Solar System: The Nebular Hypothesis

The Sun is ~99% of the mass of the solar system ~99% of the angular momentum is in the planets Inner planets are rocky and dense – terrestrial planets Outer planets are gassy – gas giant planets We know the Earth is composed of layers – Why?

Planetary Differentiation • Why? • There is a motive • Layers of different chemical composition can have different density, and gravity provides a driving force whereby planets can lower their potential energy by sorting the denser material towards the center. • There is a means • Solids are hard to sort mechanically, but liquids are easily separated gravitationally. Partial or complete melting allows large-scale differentiation. • There was an opportunity • Heating beyond the melting point of most components of undifferentiated solar material during planet formation is inevitable for bodies above a certain size (> approx. 1,000 km radius) that formed early enough or fast enough.

Chemical Differentiation of the Earth Early Earth Earth Today Early Earth likely entirely molten – gravitational segregation of dense metals (mostly Fe) to the center is the result.

Origin of the moon by planetary impact on Earth This occurred ~4.5 billion years ago (4.5 Ga) (very early in Earth history as age is only ~4.6 Ga)

Whole Earth has significant Fe - due to the core However, outer layers of Earth are much different

Earth’s crust (thin outer layer) mostly Si and O Earth’s mantle (between core and crust) is similar to the crust, but with lower Si, and higher Fe and Mg

Introduction to Plate Tectonics

Plate Tectonics: Structure of Earth’s surface is largely caused by the formation, movement, and destruction of large rigid plates… • Major conclusions of Plate Tectonics: • The lithosphere (outermost shell of Earth) is composed of 13 or more large rigid plates and numerous smaller ones • The plates move with respect to one another and thus continents are mobile (imbedded in plates) • Continents are relatively old, ocean basins relatively young • Geologic activity (earthquakes, volcanoes) is concentrated along the boundaries between plates

January 20, 2011 – Earthquakes in the past 5 years from www.iris.edu

Earthquakes mark outline of Earth’s tectonic plates.

Known volcanoes of the world – do the locations look familiar? from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Project

Note that earthquakes and volcanoes generally occur in the same locations. Where are Earths large mountains found? Are all of these generally found in the same places?

Earth’s outermost layer comprises plates which move relative to each other. These movements are now measured by GPS and VLBA techniques.

The Theory of Plate Tectonics Earth’s outer layer broken up into 13 major tectonic plates which are made of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath.

Plates may contain oceanic or continental crust or both contain both continental Others are mainly oceanic crust Some plates and oceanic crust

Earth is Composed of Multiple Layers from Core to Crust. Crust and Upper Mantle (Lithosphere) = Locked Together as Rigid Plate. In terms of overall radius of Earth the plates are only 1-2%.

The lithosphere is cold, rigid and solid. What about the asthenospheric mantle beneath?

Oceanic crust (mostly basalt) Continental crust (mostly granite) Cold, rigid Lithosphere Mantle (mostly olivine) Hot, ductile Asthenosphere The rigid lithosphere slides on the ductile asthenosphere, which is partially molten.

Crust, mantle, and core refer to composition • (what is it made of?). • Crust: mostly granite on continents • mostly basalt on oceans (we will talk about • Mantle: made mostly of the mineral olivine these later…) • Core: mostly iron and some nickel Lithosphere and asthenosphere refer to the strength (Is it hot, or is it cold? Is it rigid, or does it flow like toothpaste?) Lithosphere :Strong, rigid, cold outer shell of rock which includes the crust and part of the upper mantle. Asthenosphere: The hotter, weak, ductile layer of solid rock below the lithosphere that flows plastically. Analogy – cold toothpaste.

3 Types of Plate Boundaries • divergent • convergent • transform (strike-slip) transform divergent convergent

Divergent plate boundary • plates move apart • new lithosphere created (oceanic) • volcanism and earthquakes

convergent plate boundary •plates move towards one another • lithosphere destroyed (oceanic) • volcanism, earthquakes, mountain belts

Convergent Plate Margins Ocean-Ocean Ocean-Continent Continent-Continent

Lithosphere created at divergent plate boundaries is destroyed at convergent plate boundaries.

Motion at Plate Boundaries

Hotspot volcanoes are created where a plume of bouyant, hot mantle rises.

Hot Spot Volcano Tracks

What Forces Drive Plate Tectonics?

Early Earth was • mostly molten • due to: • Impact events • Gravity • Radioactivity

Earth’s internal heat is still escaping today and is most obviously expressed in volcanic eruptions.

What role does Earth’s internal heat play in the operation of plate tectonics? Three modes of heat transfer. Only convection causes motion.

How does convection work? • Within Earth’s interior: • Cold dense rock sinks in subduction zones. • Hot, ductile mantle inside rises and convection occurs. Fig 1.15c

Plate tectonics is caused by convection in the mantle. In detail there are other driving forces, we will discuss these later in the semester…..

Plate Tectonics provides a comprehensive explanation for all of the major features of the Earth that we can observe. Island chain from hot spots deep ocean trenches earthquakes volcanoes Fig 1.10

Plate velocities measured with GPS Confirms plate tectonic motions beyond reasonable doubt!

Mantle tomography – provides images similar to ultrasound.

Mantle tomography – hot material in red (slower seismic wave velocity), cold material in blue (faster seismic wave velocity). Earthquake locations shown by white dots. Clearly shows the subducting oceanic lithosphere (cold) beneath the Japan volcanic arc system (hot).

More detailed image of subduction zone beneath Japan.

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Home / Free Aesthetic PowerPoint Templates and Google Slides Themes / Free Earth Day PowerPoint Template & Google Slides Themes for Presentation

Free Earth Day PowerPoint Template & Google Slides Themes for Presentation

About the Template

Nature presentation template .

Download this free Earth Day PowerPoint template & Google Slides and talk about environmental issues, generate awareness about nature conservation and celebrate anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. 

In today’s world, environmental conservation is paramount. You might have heard news about deserts are blooming with new life, unexpected rainstorms are drenching arid lands like the Middle East, and glaciers are vanishing before our eyes. 

These alarming changes could end for our beloved planet Earth. So with this free earth day presentation designs teach and create awareness of environmental issues, climate changes, pollution and everything which could save our planet.  

Features of this Day Earth PowerPoint Template and Google Slides 

• Used green color scheme perfect for creating presentation on environmental conservation, global warming, natural resource saving, ecology, etc.
• Full Customizable – To make it more user-friendly our creative designers have made this educational template easy-to-edit.
• International mother earth day theme designs – To make you celebrate this auspicious day and generate awareness among your audiences, colleagues and students, we have added related icons, illustrations and designs. 

Earth day is celebrated globally on 22 April to remark the day for conservation of our planet. This earth templates includes 6 slides with shade of green and illustrations of globe, green plants making it perfect to convey message of go-green and nature conservation. 

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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable

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Earth is more than a planet with life on it. It's a "living planet"

Regina G. Barber

Berly McCoy

Rebecca Ramirez

Ferris Jabr's book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, examines the ways life and Earth have shaped each other. Lucas Heinrich/Random House hide caption

Ferris Jabr's book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, examines the ways life and Earth have shaped each other.

About ten years ago, science writer Ferris Jabr started contemplating Earth as a living planet rather than a planet with life on it . It began when he learned that the Amazon rainforest doesn't simply receive the rain that gives it its namesake; rather, it helps generate that rain. The Amazon does that by launching bits of biological confetti into the atmosphere that, in turn, seed clouds.

He began looking for other ways life changes its environment, which led to his new book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life . He talks to host Regina G. Barber about examples of how life transformed the planet — from changing the color of our sky to altering the weather.

Have a story about the environment you'd like us to cover? Email us at [email protected].

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts .

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave .

This episode was produced and fact checked by Berly McCoy and edited by Rebecca Ramirez. The audio engineer was Kwesi Lee.

New NASA mission to map Earth’s surface in 3D moves one step closer

The Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE)—a newly proposed NASA satellite mission to monitor the three-dimensional structure of global vegetation and ice—is one of four finalists selected for NASA’s next generation of Earth-observing satellites under the Earth System Explorers Program.

The project, which includes Northern Arizona University assistant research professor Chris Hakkenberg as co-investigator and biodiversity co-lead, will receive $5 million to conduct a one-year concept study. Should the team’s concept be one of two of the four teams selected to advance to the final stage, they will receive a $310 million budget to build the instrument and, with the help of NASA, launch it into space.

Led by UC San Diego’s Helen Fricker, EDGE is a collaboration of 25 scientists and engineers from around the world. Its goal is to map the 3-dimensional structure of terrestrial ecosystems like forests and the surface features of glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice as they change in response to human activity, ultimately providing actionable data on terrestrial ecosystems and cryosphere change to inform national policies for natural resource management.

With an increased density of laser beams that will map the planet in five 120-meter-wide strips, EDGE builds on and advances space-borne lidar technology like GEDI and ICESat-2—two previous missions designed to map 3D features across the Earth’s surface. In comparison, EDGE will provide much higher resolution and accuracy, enabling a more comprehensive view of the dynamics of the Earth’s surface. While the GEDI instrument only mapped as far north as southern Canada and as far south as central Chile, EDGE’s orbit extends just shy of the poles, providing global coverage of vegetation and allowing for dense mapping around the edges of ice sheets and sea ice pack.

The unmatched coverage and resolution of the depth, height and structure of terrestrial and ice systems will allow scientists to more precisely measure changes as they are happening, enabling the tracking of carbon stored in forests and ice at the poles. This will provide a real-time look at how the planet is responding to climate change and whether critical tipping points are being crossed, causing abrupt or irreversible change.

Other project collaborators include the University of Maryland, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the U.S. Forest Service, George Mason University, Boise State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, Bristol University, National University of Singapore, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution, the University of Washington, the State University of New York at Buffalo, Colorado School of Mines, the Australian Antarctic Division and the University of Tasmania.

“I’m looking forward to helping further develop the mission concept study,” Hakkenberg said. “The need to track how the Earth’s forests and ice sheets are changing has never been more urgent. There is no time to waste.”

Carly Banks | NAU Communications (928) 523-5582 | [email protected]

Preparing for the 15th International Observe the Moon Night Worldwide Celebration

• Buxner, Sanlyn
• Jones, Andrea
• Wasser, Molly
• Tiedeken, Staci
• Barry, Caela
• Summer, Theresa
• Beaudoin, Grace
• Joseph, Emily
• Bakerman, Maya
• Fooshee, Julie

International Observe the Moon Night is an annual worldwide public engagement program that encourages observation, appreciation, and understanding of our Moon and its connection to planetary science and exploration. Each year in September or October, everyone on Earth is invited to celebrate together by taking part in celestial observations, learning about lunar science and exploration, and honoring cultural and personal connections to the Moon. Lunar observers are encouraged to "observe" in many different ways by going outside and looking up, creating lunar-themed poems, paintings, and projects, telling Moon stories, and exploring lunar science resources. This year's event will be on September 14, 2025. Each year, International Observe the Moon Night supports festivals, schools, museums, clubs, libraries, and private events to engage visitors in Moon related events by providing event resources such as Moon maps, certificates, activities, and presentations. Over time, International Observe the Moon Night has grown to include millions of observers living in over 150 countries, all US states and territories, and all seven continents. Each year, feedback is collected from facilitators, event attendees, and individual lunar observers about their experiences to improve the overall event and provide additional resources. We will share how this information has led to innovations over time and provide a summary of the last 14 years of events. International Observe the Moon Night is sponsored by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission and the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with many contributors. Program information, resources, and registration are available at https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/ .

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Voices Revived

This earth, that sky poems by manuel bandeira.

• by Candace Slater (Translator) , Manuel Bandeira (Author)
• Originally published 1989
• First Edition
• Hardcover $95.00,  £80.00 Paperback $39.95,  £34.00 eBook $39.95,  £34.00

Title Details

Rights: Available worldwide Pages: 264 ISBN: 9780520415416 Trim Size: 6 x 9

About the Book

This is a generous, long-overdue presentation of the major Brazilian poet Manuel Bandeira (1886–1968) to the English-speaking reader. Well over a hundred poems appear here in both Portuguese and English, together with a critical overview that introduces the poet and Brazilian poetry to the nonspecialist and contributes significantly to the existing body of Bandeira scholarship. Bandeira’s poetry not only stands among the most important in twentieth-century Brazil but also embodies the experience of transition from one literary movement to another. The poems span a half century of writing, from the publication of Bandeira’s first book in 1917 to the definitive edition of his collected work in 1966. Because critics agree that the poet’s most influential creative efforts began in 1930 with the publication of Libertinagem (Libertinism), the collection concentrates on the later period. A smaller number of poems drawn from the three books published before this date provide a useful basis for comparison. Candace Slater’s fine versions of the poems are augmented by a translator’s note that considers Bandeira’s poetic language in terms of the particular challenges it offers the translator into English. Her introduction offers a fresh and comprehensive look at the poet whose artistic transformation from nineteenth-century modes of expression to experimental twentieth-century Modernism paralleled the transformation of his country. It focuses on the poet’s continuing alternation between an acceptance of, if not allegiance to, the material world and a desire for something more. This fundamental though often subtle opposition is reflected in the title, This Earth, That Sky.  This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1989.

About the Author

Candace Slater is Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley.

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