An extreme drought that has gripped the Southeast for months helped fuel two large, destructive, human-caused wildland fires in southern Georgia in April 2026. The Pineland Road and Highway 82 fires together burned more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) as of April 28, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission. Satellite images of the fires captured…
Today’s story is the answer to the April 2026 puzzler. With its abundance of naturally occurring gas seeps and fires, Azerbaijan has long been called “the land of fire.” Yet burning mountains are just one of the geologic wonders found in the small Eurasian country on the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan is also home to…
Along the western coast of Southern Thailand, a series of bright tan beaches lines the Andaman Sea. These sandy expanses fill the gaps between the myriad other features touching the sea, from limestone karst towers to mangroves to built-up areas. The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured these images on March 23, 2026,…
The start of spring 2026 brought bouts of heavy rain to much of Michigan. Above-normal levels of precipitation in March and early April—exacerbated by snowmelt in the northern part of the state—saturated soils and caused damaging flooding along multiple rivers. A flood watch spanned the entirety of both the upper and lower peninsulas as rain…
In a remote part of northern Mauritania on the Adrar Plateau lies a desert landscape rich in human history. This region of northwestern Africa is sprinkled with Paleolithic stone tools, Neolithic cave paintings, and the remains of medieval towns once used by caravans crossing the Sahara Desert. When viewed from space, the landscape appears to…
Whether it qualifies as a “superbloom” is in the eye of the beholder, but there is no doubt that California’s Carrizo Plain and the neighboring mountain ranges were awash with color as wildflowers put on their annual show in spring 2026. Landsat satellites began to show the early signs of color in February. By early…
Today’s story is the answer to the March 2026 puzzler. Though Ireland is known for the many shades of green that grace its grassy pastoral landscapes, there’s one corner of the Emerald Isle where gray reigns supreme. In the Burren region, on the island’s west coast, what geologists describe as limestone pavement covers much of…
For most of the year, ice blankets the waterways of the northern Canadian Arctic Archipelago. But during the brief summer melt season, the stark white and gray landscape transforms into a colorful, dynamic environment. On a particularly striking day in 2022, sediment plumes and fractured sea ice traced swirling eddies in a branch of the…
At any given moment, about 20 volcanoes on Earth are actively erupting. Often among them is Mayon—the most active volcano in the Philippines. The nearly symmetrical stratovolcano, on Luzon Island near the Albay and Lagonoy gulfs, rises more than 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) above sea level. Historical records indicate Mayon has erupted 65 times in the past…
