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Solar Eclipse Data Story Helps the Public Visualize the April 2024 Total Eclipse
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By NASA
NASA/Joel Kowsky An adult Alamosaurus sports eclipse glasses outside of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, on April 6, 2024. Two days later, the total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe.
The NASA Headquarters photo team chose this image as one of the best from 2024. See more of the top 100 from last year on Flickr.
Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
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By NASA
Learn Home NASA HEAT Student Activity… Heliophysics Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 3 min read
NASA HEAT Student Activity Featured in TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2024
On April 8, 2024, tens of millions experienced a solar eclipse from Mexico through the United States and into Canada. Astronomers, educators, and organizations had been preparing the public for this grand celestial event. Learning from engagement experiences in 2017, the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT) promoted an activity called “Eclipse Essentials: Safe and Stylish Solar Viewing Glasses.” The activity was first tested in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the Balloon Fiesta around the October 2023 annular eclipse. Using solar viewing glasses, a paper plate, some drawing and decoration supplies, visitors – minors and adults alike – crowded around the heliophysics tables in the NASA tent. That positive experience led NASA HEAT to modify and perfect the design of their “face shield” activity before offering trainings to numerous educators and outreach personnel in the weeks leading up to the April 2024 engagement events.
Note: The glasses and the art activity are not only useful for solar eclipses. They can be used anytime to safely observe the Sun. While it is never safe to look directly at the sun with unprotected eyes, eclipse glasses are perfect for observing sunspots!
One proof of positive impact can be found at the Myers Elementary School in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Students from two kindergarten classes, escorted outside by their teachers Amy Johnston and Wendy Sheridan, stared toward the sky with their solar viewing glasses using paper plates to watch the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024. The paper plates, which helped provide additional safety measures to protect their eyes, were attached to solar eclipse glasses and decorated by each student in their classrooms as a project leading up to the big day. A photo of the students was so captivating that multiple media outlets shared it on or shortly after the day of the eclipse.
The global media brand, TIME, selected a photo of these kindergarten students wearing their NASA HEAT-designed solar eclipse-viewing “face shields” during the April 8th solar eclipse as one of “TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2024”. When sharing about the top 100 photos on Instagram, TIME had this to say:
“Every year the TIME photo department sits down to curate the strongest images that crossed our path over the previous 12 months. And every year, sitting with the images, we find ourselves mulling the ways this collection feels heavier than the last, how the year produced images unlike what we’ve seen before.
But this year something else, a tautness, runs through the collection – the tension of conflict, the anxiety over outcome, anticipation of excitement or in possibility. Somehow, these photographers are able to capture that coiled feeling and hold it within the four walls of a frame. Be it by impeccable timing or intentional framing, they have created a time capsule that feels as if it’s about to be opened.”
NASA HEAT is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
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Kindergarten students at Myers Elementary School in Grand Blanc, Michigan watched the solar eclipse with special solar viewing glasses on Monday, April 8, 2024. The paper plates, which helped provide additional safety for their eyes, were added on and decorated by each student prior to the big day. Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal Share
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Last Updated Jan 13, 2025 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
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By NASA
NASA’s SPHEREx observatory will use a technique called spectroscopy across the entire sky, capturing the universe in more than 100 colors.Credit: BAE Systems Media accreditation is open for the launch of two NASA missions that will explore the mysteries of our universe and Sun.
The agency is targeting late February to launch its SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory, a space telescope that will create a 3D map of the entire sky to help scientists investigate the origins of our universe. NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which will study origins of the Sun’s outflow of material, or the solar wind, also will ride to space with the telescope.
NASA and SpaceX will launch the missions aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Accredited media will have the opportunity to participate in a series of prelaunch briefings and interviews with key mission personnel, including a science briefing the week of launch. NASA will communicate additional details regarding the media event schedule as the launch date approaches.
Media interested in covering the launch must apply for media accreditation. The application deadline for U.S. citizens is 11:59 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 6, while international media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m., Monday, Jan. 20.
NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. For questions about accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other mission questions, please contact the newsroom at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 321-867-2468.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan: 256-930-1371.
Updates about spacecraft launch preparations are available on the agency’s SPHEREx blog and PUNCH blog.
The SPHEREx mission will observe hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies in infrared light, a range of wavelengths not visible to the human eye. With this map, SPHEREx will enable scientists to study inflation, or the rapid expansion of the universe a fraction of a second after the big bang. The observatory also will measure the collective glow from galaxies near and far, including light from hidden galaxies that individually haven’t been observed, and look for reservoirs of water, carbon dioxide, and other key ingredients for life in our home galaxy.
Launching as a rideshare with SPHEREx, the agency’s PUNCH mission is made up of four suitcase-sized satellites that will spread out around Earth’s day-night line to observe the Sun and space with a combined field of view. Working together, the four satellites will map out the region where the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, transitions to the solar wind, or the constant outflow of material from the Sun.
The SPHEREx observatory is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the Astrophysics Division within the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The mission principal investigator is based jointly at NASA JPL and Caltech. Formerly Ball Aerospace, BAE Systems built the telescope, supplied the spacecraft bus, and performed observatory integration. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech. The SPHEREx data set will be publicly available.
The agency’s PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, manages the launch service for the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions.
For more details about the SPHEREx mission and updates on launch preparations, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex
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Alise Fisher (SPHEREx)
Headquarters, Washington
202-617-4977
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Sarah Frazier (PUNCH)
Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
Laura Aguiar
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-593-6245
laura.aguiar@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 13, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Jet Propulsion Laboratory Kennedy Space Center Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
Este mapa de la Tierra en 2024 muestra las anomalías de la temperatura global de la superficie, es decir, cuánto más caliente o más fría estuvo cada región del planeta en comparación con el promedio de 1951 a 1980. Las temperaturas normales se muestran en blanco, las superiores a las normales en rojo y naranja, y las inferiores a las normales en azul. Una versión animada de este mapa muestra la evolución de las anomalías de la temperatura global a lo largo del tiempo, desde 1880. Descarga esta visualización del Estudio de Visualización Científica del Centro Goddard de la NASA: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5450.Crédito: Estudio de Visualización Científica de la NASA Read this release in English here.
En el año 2024, la temperatura promedio de la superficie de la Tierra fue la más cálida que se haya registrado, según un análisis liderado por científicos de la NASA.
“Una vez más, se ha batido el récord de temperatura: 2024 fue el año más cálido desde que se empezaron a llevar registros en 1880”, dijo el administrador de la NASA, Bill Nelson. “Entre las temperaturas récord y los incendios forestales que amenazan actualmente nuestros centros y personal en California, nunca ha sido más importante entender nuestro planeta cambiante”.
Las temperaturas globales del 2024 estuvieron 2,30 grados Fahrenheit (1,28 grados Celsius) por encima del promedio para el período de referencia de la NASA (de 1951 a 1980), superando el récord establecido en 2023. El nuevo máximo histórico llega después de 15 meses consecutivos (junio de 2023 a agosto de 2024) de récords de temperaturas mensuales, una racha de calor sin precedentes.
Científicos de la NASA también estiman que en el 2024 la Tierra estuvo alrededor de 2,65 grados Fahrenheit (1,47 grados Celsius) más cálida que el promedio de mediados del siglo XIX (1850-1900). Durante más de la mitad del 2024, las temperaturas promedio superaron en 1,5 grados Celsius el nivel de referencia, y el promedio anual, con incertidumbres matemáticas, podría haber superado el nivel por primera vez.
“El Acuerdo de París sobre el cambio climático establece esfuerzos para mantenerse por debajo del nivel de 1,5 grados a largo plazo. Para poner eso en perspectiva, las temperaturas durante los períodos cálidos en la Tierra hace tres millones de años —cuando el nivel del mar era decenas de metros más alto que hoy— eran solo unos 3 grados Celsius más cálidos que los niveles preindustriales”, dijo Gavin Schmidt, director del Instituto Goddard de Investigaciones Espaciales (GISS, por sus siglas en inglés) de la NASA en Nueva York. “Estamos a medio camino de alcanzar niveles de calor del Plioceno en apenas 150 años”.
Los científicos han concluido que la tendencia al calentamiento de las últimas décadas está siendo impulsada por el dióxido de carbono, el metano y otros gases de efecto invernadero que atrapan el calor. Según un análisis internacional reciente, en 2022 y 2023 la Tierra registró un aumento récord de las emisiones de dióxido de carbono procedentes de combustibles fósiles. La concentración de dióxido de carbono en la atmósfera ha aumentado desde los niveles preindustriales en el siglo XVIII de aproximadamente 278 partes por millón a alrededor de 420 partes por millón en la actualidad.
La NASA y otras agencias federales recopilan regularmente datos sobre las concentraciones y emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Estos datos están disponibles en el Centro de Gases de Efecto Invernadero de Estados Unidos, una iniciativa de múltiples instituciones que consolida la información procedente de observaciones y modelos, con el fin de ofrecer a los responsables de la toma de decisiones un único punto de acceso a datos y análisis.
Tendencias de calor excepcional
Las temperaturas de cada año pueden verse influidas por fluctuaciones climáticas naturales como El Niño y La Niña, que alternativamente calientan y enfrían el océano Pacífico tropical. El fuerte fenómeno de El Niño que comenzó en el otoño boreal de 2023 contribuyó a que las temperaturas mundiales superaran los récords anteriores.
La ola de calor que comenzó en 2023 siguió superando las expectativas en 2024, según Schmidt, a pesar de que El Niño remitió. Los investigadores están trabajando en la identificación de los factores que contribuyen a este fenómeno, incluidos los posibles efectos climáticos de la erupción volcánica de Tonga de enero de 2022 y de las reducciones de la contaminación, que pueden cambiar la cubierta de nubes y la forma en que la energía solar se refleja hacia el espacio.
“No en todos los años se van a batir récords, pero la tendencia a largo plazo es clara”, dijo Schmidt. “Ya estamos viendo el impacto en las precipitaciones extremas, las olas de calor y el aumento del riesgo de inundaciones, que van a seguir empeorando mientras continúen las emisiones”.
Cambios a nivel local
La NASA elabora su registro de temperaturas a partir de los datos de temperatura del aire en superficie recolectados por decenas de miles de estaciones meteorológicas, así como de los datos de temperatura de la superficie del mar adquiridos por instrumentos en barcos y boyas. Para el análisis de estos datos, se emplean métodos que toman en consideración el espaciamiento variado de las estaciones de temperatura a nivel global y los efectos del calentamiento urbano que podrían sesgar los cálculos.
Una nueva evaluación publicada a principios de este año por científicos de la Escuela de Minas de Colorado, la Fundación Nacional para las Ciencias, la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica (NOAA, por sus siglas en inglés) y la NASA provee aún más confianza en los datos de temperatura global y regional de la agencia.
“Cuando se producen cambios en el clima, primero se ven en la media mundial, luego se ven a nivel continental y después a nivel regional. Ahora lo estamos viendo a nivel local”, dijo Schmidt. “Los cambios que se están produciendo en las experiencias meteorológicas cotidianas de la gente se han hecho muy evidentes”.
Los análisis independientes de la NOAA, Berkeley Earth, el Centro Hadley (parte de la Oficina Meteorológica del Reino Unido, Met Office) y el Servicio de Cambio Climático de Copernicus en Europa también han concluido que las temperaturas de la superficie global para 2024 fueron las más altas desde que comenzaron los registros modernos. Estos científicos utilizan gran parte de los mismos datos de temperatura en sus análisis, pero emplean metodologías y modelos diferentes. Todos muestran la misma tendencia al calentamiento.
El conjunto completo de datos de la NASA sobre las temperaturas de la superficie global, así como los detalles (en inglés) de cómo los científicos de la NASA llevaron a cabo el análisis, están a disposición del público en GISS, un laboratorio de la NASA gestionado por el Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la agencia en Greenbelt, Maryland.
Para más información (en inglés) sobre los programas de ciencias de la Tierra de la NASA, visita:
https://www.nasa.gov/earth
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María José Viñas / Liz Vlock
Sede, Washington
240-458-0248 / 202-358-1600
maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Peter Jacobs
Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard, Greenbelt, MD.
301-286-0535
peter.jacobs@nasa.gov
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By NASA
This map of Earth in 2024 shows global surface temperature anomalies, or how much warmer or cooler each region of the planet was compared to the average from 1951 to 1980. Normal temperatures are shown in white, higher-than-normal temperatures in red and orange, and lower-than-normal temperatures in blue. An animated version of this map shows global temperature anomalies changing over time, dating back to 1880. Download this visualization from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5450. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Earth’s average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis led by NASA scientists.
Global temperatures in 2024 were 2.30 degrees Fahrenheit (1.28 degrees Celsius) above the agency’s 20th-century baseline (1951-1980), which tops the record set in 2023. The new record comes after 15 consecutive months (June 2023 through August 2024) of monthly temperature records — an unprecedented heat streak.
“Once again, the temperature record has been shattered — 2024 was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Between record breaking temperatures and wildfires currently threatening our centers and workforce in California, it has never been more important to understand our changing planet.”
NASA scientists further estimate Earth in 2024 was about 2.65 degrees Fahrenheit (1.47 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-19th century average (1850-1900). For more than half of 2024, average temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the baseline, and the annual average, with mathematical uncertainties, may have exceeded the level for the first time.
“The Paris Agreement on climate change sets forth efforts to remain below 1.5 degrees Celsius over the long term. To put that in perspective, temperatures during the warm periods on Earth three million years ago — when sea levels were dozens of feet higher than today — were only around 3 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. “We are halfway to Pliocene-level warmth in just 150 years.”
Scientists have concluded the warming trend of recent decades is driven by heat-trapping carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases. In 2022 and 2023, Earth saw record increases in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, according to a recent international analysis. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from pre-industrial levels in the 18th century of approximately 278 parts per million to about 420 parts per million today.
NASA and other federal agencies regularly collect data on greenhouse gas concentrations and emissions. These data are available at the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center, a multi-agency effort that consolidates information from observations and models, with a goal of providing decision-makers with one location for data and analysis.
Exceptional heat trends
The temperatures of individual years can be influenced by natural climate fluctuations such as El Niño and La Niña, which alternately warm and cool the tropical Pacific Ocean. The strong El Niño that began in fall 2023 helped nudge global temperatures above previous records.
The heat surge that began in 2023 continued to exceed expectations in 2024, Schmidt said, even though El Niño abated. Researchers are working to identify contributing factors, including possible climate impacts of the January 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption and reductions in pollution, which may change cloud cover and how solar energy is reflected back into space.
“Not every year is going to break records, but the long-term trend is clear,” Schmidt said. “We’re already seeing the impact in extreme rainfall, heat waves, and increased flood risk, which are going to keep getting worse as long as emissions continue.”
Seeing changes locally
NASA assembles its temperature record using surface air temperature data collected from tens of thousands of meteorological stations, as well as sea surface temperature data acquired by ship- and buoy-based instruments. This data is analyzed using methods that account for the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and for urban heating effects that could skew the calculations.
A new assessment published earlier this year by scientists at the Colorado School of Mines, National Science Foundation, the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), and NASA further increases confidence in the agency’s global and regional temperature data.
“When changes happen in the climate, you see it first in the global mean, then you see it at the continental scale and then at the regional scale. Now, we’re seeing it at the local level,” Schmidt said. “The changes occurring in people’s everyday weather experiences have become abundantly clear.”
Independent analyses by NOAA, Berkeley Earth, the Hadley Centre (part of the United Kingdom’s weather forecasting Met Office) and Copernicus Climate Services in Europe have also concluded that the global surface temperatures for 2024 were the highest since modern record-keeping began. These scientists use much of the same temperature data in their analyses but use different methodologies and models. Each shows the same ongoing warming trend.
NASA’s full dataset of global surface temperatures, as well as details of how NASA scientists conducted the analysis, are publicly available from GISS, a NASA laboratory managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
For more information about NASA’s Earth science programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/earth
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Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Peter Jacobs
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0535
peter.jacobs@nasa.gov
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