Posted by Michala Garrison

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/fire-threatens-rare-forests-in-argentina/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1190417

Summer is usually peak tourism season in Argentina’s Chubut province, a time when hikers and sightseers arrive to explore glacial lakes and cirques, alpine valleys, and towering forests. In January 2026, however, some visitors to the remote Patagonian region instead found themselves fleeing raging wildland fires.

On January 8, 2026, the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of smoke billowing from two large fires burning in and around Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. NASA satellites began detecting widespread fire activity in the area on January 6.

The more southerly blaze was spreading east on ridges between Lago Rivadavia, Lago Futalaufquen, and Lago Menéndez; the more northerly fire was burning on steep hillsides around Lago Epuyén. All of the lakes occupy U-shaped glacial troughs, valleys with unusually flat bases and steep sides carved by glacial and periglacial erosion. Satellite-based estimates from the Global Wildfire Information System indicate that fires charred more than 175 square kilometers (67 square miles) across Patagonia between January 5 and 8.

The ridges are blanketed with temperate Patagonian Andean forest, including sections of Valdivian rainforest, with rare stands of alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides). A type of cypress, these huge, slow-growing conifers are the second-longest-lived trees on Earth, with some surviving for more than 3,600 years. According to UNESCO documents, Los Alerces National Park protects 36 percent of Argentina’s alerce forests, including stands with the greatest genetic variability on the eastern slopes of the Andes. The park’s forests also contain exclusive genetic variants and the oldest individuals in the country.

News outlets and the national park reported challenging weather conditions for firefighters on the ground, who faced high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds in recent days. Standardized Precipitation Index data from the National Integrated Drought Information System show that unusually dry conditions over the past several months have likely primed vegetation to burn. News outlets reported that at least 3,000 tourists had to be evacuated from a lake resort near Lago Epuyén.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland.

References & Resources

• Argentina (2026) Parque Nacional Los Alerces. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• Buenos Aires Herald (2026, January 8) Wildfires in Patagonia: 3,000 tourists evacuated as flames consume Chubut forests. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• El Destape (2026, January 5) “Situación explosiva o extremadamente crítica”: alerta por posibles incendios en casi toda la Argentina en el verano. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• France24 (2026, January 7) 3,000 tourists evacuated as Argentine Patagonia battles wildfires. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• LM Neuquén (2026, January 8) Incendios forestales: los lugares habilitados para el turismo en la cordillera. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• NASA Earthdata (2026) Wildfires. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• Noticias Ambientales (2026, January 8) Alert for fires in Chubut: nearly 2000 hectares devastated, 3000 evacuated, and the fire doesn’t stop. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• ReliefWeb (2026, January 8) Argentina – Wildfires. Accessed January 9, 2026.
• UNESCO (2017) Los Alerces National Park. Accessed January 9, 2026.

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The post Fire Threatens Rare Forests in Argentina appeared first on NASA Science.

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/fire-threatens-rare-forests-in-argentina/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1190417

Posted by Michala Garrison

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/meltwater-turns-iceberg-a-23a-blue/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1189639

The year that iceberg A-23A first broke away from Antarctica’s Filchner Ice Shelf, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States, and the movie Top Gun was setting box office records. Forty years later, the massive tabular berg—one of the largest and longest-lived bergs ever tracked by scientists—is sopping with blue meltwater and on the verge of complete disintegration as it drifts in the South Atlantic between the eastern tip of South America and South Georgia island.

When it first detached from Antarctica in 1986, the berg was nearly twice the size of Rhode Island—about 4,000 square kilometers. Estimates from the U.S. National Ice Center put the berg’s area at 1,182 square kilometers (456 square miles) in early January 2026, following the breakup of several sizable pieces in July, August, and September of 2025 as it moved into relatively warm summer conditions by December.

When the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of what remained of the waterlogged berg on December 26, 2025, extensive pools of blue meltwater were visible on its surface. Though much smaller than it once was, what remains is still among the largest icebergs in the ocean, covering an area larger than New York City. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured a photograph showing a closer view (below) of the iceberg a day later, with an even more extensive melt pool.

The “blue-mush” areas are likely the result of ongoing disintegration events, explained Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder. “You have the weight of the water sitting inside cracks in the ice and forcing them open,” he said. Note also the thin white line around the outer edge of the iceberg seemingly holding in blue meltwater—a “rampart-moat” pattern caused by an upward bending of the iceberg plate as its edges melt at the waterline.

The striking linear patterns of blue and white across the berg are likely related to striations that were scoured hundreds of years ago when the ice was part of a glacier dragging across Antarctic bedrock.

“The striations formed parallel to the direction of flow, which ultimately created subtle ridges and valleys on the top of the iceberg that now direct the flow of meltwater,” explained Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow & Ice Data Center. “It’s impressive that these striations still show up after so much time has passed, massive amounts of snow have fallen, and a great deal of melting has occurred from below,” added retired University of Maryland Baltimore County scientist Chris Shuman.

The MODIS image suggests that the ailing iceberg has also sprung a leak. The white area to its left may be the result of what Shuman described as a “blowout.” The weight of the water pooling at the top of the towering iceberg would have created enough pressure at the edges to punch through. The blowout may have allowed meltwater to spill tens of meters down to the ocean surface in what researchers call a “freshwater discharge plume,” where it mixed with the mélange of ice bits floating next to the iceberg.

Scientists say these signs indicate the iceberg could be just days or weeks from disintegrating completely. “I certainly don’t expect A-23A to last through the austral summer,” said Shuman, noting that the season typically brings clearer skies and warmer air and water temperatures—factors that accelerate the disintegration process in an area known among ice experts as a “graveyard” for icebergs. It’s already in water that’s about 3 degrees Celsius and riding currents that are pushing it toward even warmer waters that will eat away at it quickly, added Meier.

Even by Antarctic standards, A-23A has had a long, winding journey full of unexpected chapters that have improved scientists’ understanding of the “megabergs” occasionally released into the Southern Ocean. After grounding in the shallow waters of the Weddell Sea for more than 30 years, A-23A broke free in 2020, then spent several months in a twirling ocean vortex called a Taylor column. It eventually spun away and headed north, nearly colliding with South Georgia island and lodging in shallow waters for several months before escaping into the open ocean, where it has been rapidly breaking apart throughout 2025.

Scientists who have been tracking the berg for their entire careers see its imminent demise as a bittersweet moment. “I’m incredibly grateful that we’ve had the satellite resources in place that have allowed us to track it and document its evolution so closely,” said Shuman. “A-23A faces the same fate as other Antarctic bergs, but its path has been remarkably long and eventful. It’s hard to believe it won’t be with us much longer.”

Even as A-23A fades, other massive bergs are parked or drifting along the Antarctic shoreline. Several, including A-81, B22A, and D15A, are each larger than 1,500 square kilometers and sit waiting for their moment to break free and begin their journey north.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. ISS Astronaut photograph ISS074-E-8943 was acquired on December 27, 2025, with a Nikon Z 9 digital camera using a focal length of 500 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 74 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Story by Adam Voiland.

References and Resources

• AP News (2025, September 4) Most enduring and biggest iceberg breaks apart, with more splintering to come in its death spiral. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• British Antarctic Survey (2025, March 4) World’s largest iceberg grounds near sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2025, September 24) A Giant Iceberg’s Final Drift. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2025, August 1) Antarctic Iceberg Downsizes. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2025, May 6) Antarctic Iceberg Loses Its Edge. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2015, February 6) Flipped, Dirty, Amazing Icebergs. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• NPR (2025, September 5) The world’s oldest and largest iceberg will soon be no more. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• Scambos, T., et al. (2025) How to train your iceberg: Iceberg A23a drift track in 2024. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 106(8), S357–S400.
• Scambos, T., et al. (2005) ICESat profiles of tabular iceberg margins and iceberg breakup at low latitudes. Geophysical Research Letters, 32(23).
• USA Today (2025, September 4) World’s largest iceberg, A23a, breaks. See satellite and aerial views. Accessed January 7, 2026.
• U.S. National Ice Center (2026, January 7) Antarctic Iceberg Data. Accessed January 7, 2026.

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The post Meltwater Turns Iceberg A-23A Blue appeared first on NASA Science.

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/meltwater-turns-iceberg-a-23a-blue/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1189639

Posted by ldauphin

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/reaching-the-precipice-in-angola/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1189006

In southwestern Angola, an expanse of coastal plains comes to an abrupt end at a natural barrier. The Huíla plateau soars above the lowlands to elevations of around 2,300 meters (7,500 feet). The sharp transition results in dramatic landscapes and a sudden change from an arid environment to more-temperate climes.  

The serrated edge of the Huíla plateau zigzags through this image, which is a mosaic of scenes acquired on June 19 and 20, 2025, with the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) and OLI on the Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 satellites, respectively. Areas around the plateau’s edges appear green with vegetation. But the landscape tends to look much browner by late September, at the end of the region’s dry season, during which almost no rain falls.  

This topography is part of the Great Escarpment of southern Africa, a 5,000-kilometer-long feature running roughly parallel to the continent’s edge. From Angola, it extends south through Namibia, across South Africa, and then northeast into Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The image below, acquired with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite, shows a longer segment of the escarpment in Angola.  

Scientists believe the escarpment formed after the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana in the Jurassic period. Since then, erosion has worn away at the continental margin such that the escarpment now sits 50 to 200 kilometers (30 to 120 miles) back from the coast.   

This Angolan section of the escarpment features dizzying, yet beautiful, landscapes. Tundavala Gap, a gouge eroded into the cliff line (below), is one of the most iconic with its well-framed view of the plains below. The precipice also presents a substantial obstacle to transportation. A stretch of the Namibe-Lubango Road overcomes this challenge with a series of scenic hairpin turns climbing to Serra da Leba pass near the town of Leba.  

Lubango, one of Angola’s largest cities, occupies a valley on the Huíla plateau. In addition to its remarkable natural surroundings, the city boasts a diverse mix of cultures, striking architecture, and a wide variety of locally produced foods.  

NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey, and VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Photo of Tundavala Gap © jbdodane.com. Story by Lindsey Doermann. 

References & Resources 

• African Leadership Magazine (2024, May 3) Unveiling Lubango, the Hidden Gem of Southern Angola. Accessed January 5, 2026. 
• The American Alpine Journal (2024) Fenda da Tundavala and Serra da Leba, New Routes. Accessed January 5, 2026. 
• Atlas Obscura (2025, August 18) Serra da Leba Pass. Accessed January 5, 2026. 
• Clark, V.R., et al. (2011) The Great Escarpment of southern Africa: a new frontier for biodiversity exploration. Biodiversity and Conservation, 20, 2543–2561. 
• CNN (2023, November 27) Lubango: The spectacular African destination you’ve probably never heard of. Accessed January 5, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2017, March 13) South Africa’s “Brown Gold.” Accessed January 5, 2026. 
• NASA Earth Observatory (2013, December 14) South Africa Tribute. Accessed January 5, 2026.

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The post Reaching the Precipice in Angola  appeared first on NASA Science.

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/reaching-the-precipice-in-angola/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1189006

Posted by ldauphin

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/lake-eyre-blushes/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1186086

The year 2025 was extraordinary for Lake Eyre (also called Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre) in South Australia. Water started flowing into the often-dry, salty plain at the continent’s lowest point in early May after torrential rains in Queensland flooded several rivers that drain toward it. The lake continued to fill in the ensuing months, reaching levels rarely seen.

The lake turned a corner in early October, spring in Australia. Tributaries feeding the basin slowed to a trickle, and evaporation started outpacing inflow from rivers, according to local observers. By the start of December, the Lake Eyre Yacht Club reported that the rivers had dried up, temperatures had warmed with the arrival of summer, and lake levels were dropping rapidly.

As it dried, Lake Eyre displayed more striking changes visible to satellites. The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 acquired this natural-color image of Lake Eyre on December 15, 2025. The two deepest parts of the lake—Belt Bay and Madigan Gulf—still contained some water, which took on greenish and reddish hues, respectively. (From closer vantage points, Madigan Gulf can appear pink and even orange.)

As Lake Eyre evaporates, the remaining water becomes increasingly saline. Halophilic, or salt-loving, microorganisms thrive in these waters, enough to alter its color over large areas. Direct water samples are needed to identify what microbes are present in Lake Eyre. Past analyses have detected Dunaliella salina algae in samples, and studies of different pink-colored lakes have found the same algae, along with populations of other halophilic bacteria and archaea. Many of these species are known to produce pigmented compounds such as carotenoids that are colored pink, orange, or red.

Salt-loving algae and bacteria are sensitive to salinity levels and other environmental factors. Different conditions in Belt Bay and Madigan Gulf may support different microbial mixes, accounting for their contrasting colors. A similar-looking contrast between greenish and reddish waters sometimes occurs in Utah’s Great Salt Lake, where a causeway prevents water in the lake’s north and south arms from mixing. Varied salinity, water depth, and microbe populations also affect water color in San Francisco Bay-area salt ponds.

Just how long water will remain in Lake Eyre will depend largely on summer heat and evaporation rates. As an endorheic lake, it has no outflow, and this part of the outback receives very little rain. After complete fills of the lake, for example in 1950, 1974, and 1984, it took up to two years to dry out again.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

References & Resources

• ABC News (2025, October 6) Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre has reached its peak and is beginning to evaporate, local pilot says. Accessed December 18, 2025.
• ABC News (2022, January 4) Why Australia has so many pink lakes — and why some of them are losing their colour. Accessed December 18, 2025.
• Lake Eyre Yacht Club (2025, December 2) Current Lake Status. Accessed December 18, 2025.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2025, September 17) Cooper Creek Replenishes Lake Eyre. Accessed December 18, 2025.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2011, December 18) Lake Eyre Floods, South Australia. Accessed December 18, 2025.
• Teller, J.T. (1987) The pink colour of lakes, with an example from Australia. Journal of Arid Environments, 12(2), 101-103.
• Williams, W.D. (1990) 7 Salt Lakes: The Limnology of Lake Eyre. In Tyler, M.J., Twidale, C.R., et al. (Eds.), Natural History of the North East Deserts. Royal Society of South Australia, Adelaide, pp. 85-99.
• World Lake Database Lake Eyre. Accessed December 18, 2025.

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The post Lake Eyre Blushes appeared first on NASA Science.

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/lake-eyre-blushes/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1186086