The Earth from Space

Flooding: Dongting Lake, in northern Hunan Province of China, sits on land created by sediments washed downstream by the Yangtze river. Left: Before flooding, March 2002. Right: After the Yangtze and other rivers flooded and carried enormous volumes of water downstream into the lake covering low-lying areas, September 2002 Photograph: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS,U.S/Japan ASTER Science Team

Deforestation: Left: Rondonia, Brazil, 1976. Deforestation in its early stages, with a distinctive "fish bone" pattern of penetration into the forest. Right: Rondonia, Brazil, 2001. Twenty five years later swathes of land have been cleared with remaining forest shown in red Photograph: National Air and Space Museum

Disappearing Sea: Left: Aral Sea, 1998 Right: Aral Sea, 2002. In the 1960s, huge projects diverted water from the world’s fourth largest inland body of water to irrigate cotton and rice fields. Within 20 years the flow of water into the Aral completely stopped. The rapid disappearance of the sea in the former Soviet Union may be the most significant regional environmental disaster the world is facing but no plans exist for solving it. By 2020 it is likely to be only 10% of its original size Photograph: R&D Center ScanEx and Jacques Descloites,MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Urban Growth: Left: Dallas, US 1976 Right: Dallas, US 2001. The opening of an international airport fuelled suburban sprawl over 25 years between the two urban centres of Dallas and Fort Worth Photograph: National Air and Space Museum

Tsunami: Left: Banda Aceh, Indonesia, before the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean (2003). Right: Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after the Tsunami (2004), which caused waves more than 50 feet high that swept far inland. The city was devastated and much of the area remains flooded Photograph: GeoEye/CRISP, National University of Singapore

Cleared vegetation: Ghana: 2002. Deforestation in southwestern Ghana and southeastern Cote d'Ivoire to make way for cocoa production. The darker geometric shapes show the few remaining standing forests Photograph: National Air and Space Museum

Patterns of agriculture: Garden City, Kansas. US, 2000. Agriculture is the most widespread use of land by humans consuming huge amounts of water. Kansas is the wheat capital of the US with hundreds of irrigated fields. Crops appear in bright red. Light-coloured fields are fallow or have been harvested Photograph: 183 USGS/EROS Data Center

US at night: Global maps show the earth at night, when the human presence is most visible through the use of artificial light. Streetlights are the source of most of the light. Some densely populated US cities are especially bright. The dark-blue layer shows land masses Photograph: NASA/GSFC/Visualization Analysis Laboratory

Asia at night: The route of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has created a line of well-lit cities strung out across the continent. Deserts of central Asia have no light Photograph: NASA/GSFC/Visualization Analysis Laboratory

South America at night: Densely forested places in central South America are dark Photograph: NASA/GSFC/Visualization Analysis Laboratory

Europe at night: Large European cities are particularly bright. The course of the Nile river in Egypt along which many towns are located is clearly visible Photograph: NASA/GSFC/Visualization Analysis Laboratory