An extreme sideways viewing angle and the mirror-like reflection of sunlight off water creates a dramatic astronaut photo of clouds over Italy's Calabrian Peninsula.

The Mid-Atlantic states were completely white on Sunday, December 20, 2009, in the wake of a record-breaking snow storm.

roughly 55 kilometers (35 miles) south of Laverton, Western Australia.

This trio of global maps from NASA's Terra satellite from November 2009 illustrates how snow and clouds make Earth more reflective.

This color-coded image shows rainfall amounts over the southeastern United States from December 9 to 15, 2009. Heaviest amounts appear in blue and lightest amounts appear in green.

spanning hundreds of kilometers over the Indian Ocean, just off the Australian coast.

Captured between early November and early December 2009, these true-color images show the changes in iceberg B17-B as it drifts northward from Antarctica toward Australia.

Acquired December 11, 2009, these true-color images show a wide-area and two close-up views of plumes from Kilauea, including plumes from Halema'uma'u and Pu'u O'o Craters.

A small plume of ash and/or steam is blowing west from the summit of Mayon Volcano in this image from December 15, 2009.

Acquired December 14, 2009, this true-color image of northern India and Bangladesh shows thick haze hugging the soutehrn face of the Himalaya.

A fire in a Western Australia state forest near Dwellingup billows smoke over the Indian Ocean on December 15, 2009.

NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite has captured five complete polar seasons of noctilucent (NLC) or 'night-shining' clouds with an unprecedented horizontal resolution of 3 miles by 3 miles.

Black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers has contributed significantly to the retreat of the world's largest non-polar ice masses, according to new research.

New space observations reveal that since October 2003, the aquifers for California's primary agricultural region -- the Central Valley -- and its major mountain water source -- the Sierra Nevadas -- have lost nearly enough water combined to fill Lake

NASA researchers studying have found that the intensity of the "heat island" created by a city depends on the ecosystem it replaced and on the regional climate.

Of the many dangers that plague commercial airplanes, icing stands out as one of the most treacherous.

With each additional day and year that the Terra satellite monitors Earth, scientists achieve a strengthened record of Earth's vital signs; here's a sample of the latest developments to be presented by Terra researchers at the Fall Meeting of the