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More than half of Earth's 37 largest aquifers are being depleted, according to gravitational data from the GRACE satellite system.

More than half of the world's 37 biggest aquifers are running dry, putting at risk the freshwater supplies of hundreds of millions of people, according to a NASA analysis. "The water table is dropping all over the world," said NASA water scientist Jay Famiglietti. 

NASA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the International Forum of Aviation Research are planning their first joint research flights to investigate alternative fuels for aviation.

This year may be only half over, but 2016 is already on track to be the hottest year ever on record, with each of the first six months, from January to June, setting new temperature records, NASA officials announced this week.

NASA research shows Earth's atmosphere contains an unexpectedly large amount of an ozone-depleting compound from an unknown source decades after the compound was banned worldwide.

A new study by scientists from NASA and the University of California, Irvine, has found that over 75 percent of the water loss in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin since late 2004 came from underground resources. The extent of groundwater loss may pose a greater threat to the water supply of the western United States than previously thought.

2015 was Earth's hottest year on record, according to new data released Wednesday by NOAA and NASA. For the last 12 months the  average surface temperature across the globe was 58.47 Fahrenheit, a 0.23-degree increase from 2014's record-breaking average temperature of 58.24, the two agencies reported.

The satellites measure changes in Earth's gravitation field that signal shifts in the movement of water across and under Earth's surface.

On July 20th, James Hansen, the former NASA climatologist who brought climate change to the public's attention in the summer of 1988, issued a bombshell: He and a team of climate scientists had identified a newly important feedback mechanism off the coast of Antarctica that suggests mean sea levels could rise 10 times faster than previously predicted: 10 feet by 2065. The authors included this chilling warning: If emissions aren't cut, "We conclude that multi-meter sea-level rise would become practically unavoidable. Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea-level rise could be devastating. It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization."

In a recent report, NASA pointed out that our world is running on the brink of a freshwater shortage.    When faced with a crisis, history shows us that humanity has an amazing ability to conquer it resourcefully. And that's exactly what many environmental innovators are seeking to do

Freshwater supplies have already seriously declined in 19 global hotspots - from China to the Caspian Sea - due to overuse, groundbreaking study shows

NASA found that 2016 was 1.78 degrees warmer than the mid-20th century average, while NOAA found 2016 was 1.69 degrees warmer than the 20th century average. The agencies use those pre-industrial periods as a set point for measuring climate change.

The first chart shows atmospheric CO2 levels in recent years, with average seasonal cycle removed. The second chart shows CO2 levels during the last three glacial cycles, as reconstructed from ice cores.

Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting land ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms. The first chart tracks the change in sea level since 1993 as observed by satellites. The second chart, derived from coastal tide gauge data, shows how much sea level changed from about 1870 to 2000.

Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880, according to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The six-month period from January to June was also the planet's warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the late nineteenth century.

For thousands of years, sea level has remained relatively stable and human communities have settled along the planet's coastlines. But now Earth's seas are rising. Globally, sea level has risen about eight inches (20 centimeters) since the beginning of the 20th century and more than two inches (5 centimeters) in the last 20 years alone. All signs suggest that this rise is accelerating.

This series of visualizations shows how some of Earth's key climate indicators are changing over time.