NOAA's interactive sea level rise viewer

Why is sea level rising?

Rising global sea level is one of the most commonly cited consequences of climate change, but it’s often unclear how it might affect people living on the coasts. Read this explanation of why global sea level is rising and why sea level rise happens at different rates in different locations.

Explore an interactive map of volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis from 2150 BCE to the present.

Explore Earth's future climate under different levels of warming

An incredible interactive project showing how global warming is projected to affect the world, from temperatures to rainfall, droughts and flooding, and more.

Visualizing changes in ocean temperatures between 2016 and 2020

How much does the temperature of the sea change in a given year? This visualization helps illustrate the changes by showing sea surface temperature data from January 2016 through March 2020. Sea surface temperature, which refers to water temperature at the sea's surface, plays a significant role in climate and weather.

Check out hurricane history where you live

The NOAA's historical hurricane tracker lets you explore over 150 years of data to see where hurricanes traveled and made landfall. The tool lets you search by location, name, or year; create maps and tables; and read NOAA storm reports.

See the real-time numbers of ships traversing the canal each day

This platform uses satellite data to track chokepoints and trade disruptions along the shipping lanes that crisscross the globe. Search for data from more than 1,600 ports, or run the climate scenario simulator.

Climate models have predicted sea level rise almost perfectly since the 1990s

The rise in sea levels is primarily due to melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica, and predicted levels have been confirmed accurate by satellite observations. Ocean currents influence regional variations in sea level rise, which are expected to accelerate.

Explore and visualize AI-driven riverine and flash-flood forecasts across more than 150 countries to anticipate these natural disasters up to seven days in advance.

View the past month of earthquakes worldwide with this digital globe, which displays data from the US Geological Survey.

An interactive of the deep sea

Explore an interactive timeline of Earth's 4.5-billion-year history to visualize shifting landmasses and oceans, view the locations of significant asteroid impacts, and learn about major geological and biological events.

How melting ice impacts the whole world

Melting glaciers and ice caps are far from where most people live, but their impact can be felt across the planet. Visit four places—the American West, a Himalayan valley, the northern Atlantic, and Texas—with this immersive interactive to see the various impacts of melting ice around the world.

Explore an interactive time-lapse of reported tsunami events since 1850, with identified cause, recorded observations, known deaths, and other information available for each.

The weather time machine

A fun interactive on how old ships’ logs are giving scientists new insights into the past and future of the Earth’s changing climate (w/maps and pictures).

Scientists define sea level as the elevation to which water would settle on Earth's surface, given the planet's gravitational field and rotation.

Track active wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters across the US in real time with this interactive map.

Draw or drag on your screen, and this browser experiment matches your gesture to real Google Earth satellite imagery of rivers, coastlines, and highways.

The geoid depicts what Earth would look like if not for tides and currents, given the planet's rotation and uneven gravitational field.

MarineTraffic lets you explore a real-time, interactive map tracking the locations of registered ships around the globe.

View a tsunami travel time map to learn how many hours its waves are estimated to take to reach different parts of Earth when originating from a list of geologically active locations.

Snowfall records from every county in the US

Discover the one-day snowfall records of every county in the US in this comprehensive map. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration captures inches of snowfall and the year it fell the most in each county. See the contrasts between the inches of snowfall in warm southern American states and the cooler East Coast.

A real-time 3D-explorer of the solar system

NASA's Eyes on the Solar System allows you to track all kinds of objects in space in real time, from observatories like the James Webb Telescope to all manner of comets and asteroids. Zoom in and out, read up on space missions, and see the solar system from a totally new angle with this incredible interactive site. Jump in here.

Discover trends in Earth's climate system: What are indicators of climate change?

A comprehensive deep dive tracking components of the climate system over time, such as temperature, sea level, sea ice amounts, ocean heat, greenhouse gases, and more (w/charts and graphs).

Visualize real-time and historical atmospheric conditions from around the world

This tool provides live maps of wind, rain, thunderstorms, and other atmospheric phenomena overlayed on an interactive map of the Earth. Users can enter their location to explore local atmospheric dynamics and review historical weather conditions dating back to 1979.

Take an interactive dive and see the animals that populate the oceans, from coral near the surface to shrimp-like organisms near the seafloor.

Explore coral reefs in Google's "street view"

Expanding its mission to map the world, Google Maps partnered with The Catlin Seaview Survey to introduce the first-ever underwater panoramas, making oceanic marvels like the Great Barrier Reef accessible to everyone. With Google Maps, the public...

Rising sea levels due to climate change may be slowing Earth's rotation

A 2024 PNAS study found that from 2000 to 2020, the length of a day increased at a rate of 1.33 milliseconds per century, an unprecedented amount in the 3.6 million years of day-length changes reconstructed from an analysis of benthic foraminifera fossils. Researchers suggest the slowing comes from changing ice sheets redistributing planetary mass.

Because seismic waves travel 100 times faster than tsunami waves—waves typically travel faster through solids than liquids—measurements of geological activity help tsunami detection systems provide early warnings.

Explore an interactive global weather map, with overlays depicting real-time data on temperature, precipitation, wind, humidity, and pressure, which enable the tracking and monitoring of extreme weather events.

NASA's GUARDIAN software uses changes in satellite navigation signals and AI-powered detection algorithms to anticipate tsunamis and provide real-time alerts to at-risk communities before the phenomena are detected by tidal sensors.

The floating homes of Holland

Floating communities like Schoonschip in Amsterdam are offering a novel approach to combat climate change-induced flooding. With sea levels rising and storms becoming more intense, these floating neighborhoods are providing a sustainable flood defense solution. Learn how they work here.

A simple pictorial explanation of ocean geography

Visualizing ocean geographical features, such as a coastal zone, continental shelf and abyssal plain. This article from the US Geological Survey also provides several links to diverse ocean facts.

Track individual sharks around the world in real time.

Climate resilience strategies, which help communities mitigate the effects of climate change, include painting roofs white, building clam gardens, harvesting fog, and feeding cows seaweed.

Check out this interactive 3D animation of a virtual renewable energy-powered island

The US Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Discovery (REDi) Island invite explorers to discover clean, renewable energy options by navigating a virtual island filled with energy efficient power generation and desalinization technologies.

Watch a visualization of global ocean currents from NASA's Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean project.

Visualize your city’s annual daylight map

Type in your town or region and see sunrise and sunset for each day of the year. A separate view shows the number of hours of day versus night for each day. Search a city far north like Oslo, Norway, and compare its graphs to one near the equator (like Singapore).

How scientists use data to anticipate the phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation

Sea-surface temperatures across various regions of the equatorial Pacific Ocean can be compared with ocean temperatures elsewhere in the tropics to identify anomalies that indicate where in the ENSO cycle Earth finds itself. The "Niño 3.4" region in particular—known as the Ocean Niño Index—is a key indicator of ENSO phase and intensity.

How flooding the Dead Sea could help the climate

There are many dead zones in the world with low elevation and very little rainfall that provide little to no benefits to the ecosystem or climate. This digestible, thorough article explains how piping in nearby water to flood these areas could...

A list of common questions and answers about hurricanes from NOAA

This FAQ answers many questions hurricane researchers at NOAA have received, sorted by category. The answers provide insights into hurricane classification and naming, forecasting their movement and growth, and tips for preparing ahead of landfall.

View maps of seafloor topography, earthquakes, and volcanic activity, which scientists use to create outlines of Earth's tectonic plates.

Learn about various ocean-atmosphere cycles impacting global weather patterns

Although the El Niño-Southern Oscillation is among the most impactful, the North Atlantic Oscillation strongly influences weather patterns in the Northeast US by periodically changing atmospheric pressure over the Atlantic. The North Pacific Oscillation fluctuates atmospheric pressure and sea-surface temperatures that affect winter temperatures over much of the US.

Simulate the effects of government policies on climate projections

The En-ROADS tool lets you role-play as a global decision maker to explore the long-term effects of various policy ideas on climate. More than 341,000 people worldwide, including over 130 members of Congress, have used the simulation.

Climate change is influencing the spread of disease

Rising temperatures and water levels are forcing animals and pathogens beyond their typical boundaries. This article and its data visualizations explore the proliferation of climate-driven diseases.

Global CO2 levels as measured at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory, managed by the US government’s NOAA.

The Global Monitoring Laboratory conducts research on greenhouse gas and carbon cycle feedbacks, changes in clouds, aerosols, and surface radiation, and recovery of stratospheric ozone.

Explore an interactive visualization of greenhouse gas emissions from 745 million sources worldwide.

How salt, sunlight, and wind drive ocean currents

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation plays a critical role in regulating earth's climate, but is threatened by climate change. Explore the effects of temperature, density, and salinity on ocean currents in this 13-minute PBS video.

Using AI to track plastic pollution in real time

Explore Global Plastic Watch, the first-ever, near-real-time, high-resolution map of plastic pollution. Global Plastic Watch uses advanced satellite data technology and machine learning to measure piles of plastic waste from space.

Learn about the plant and animal species in every US county that are federally protected under the US Endangered Species Act with this interactive map.

Create digital maps of Earth with custom sketches and labels

In this interactive, users can apply layers to various base maps to display natural and human features, including geological activity, biomes, ocean currents, population densities, and light pollution. Custom legends, markers, and drawings can be used to highlight prominent features.