Satellite images of Earth in 2025 show key environmental events.

NASA’s Earth-observing satellites produced 12 images in 2025 that document events including large wildfires, a glacier collapse in Switzerland, rapid hurricane intensification, and regional dust, haze and ocean phenomena.

NASA’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites collected a selection of 12 images during 2025 that illustrate natural phenomena and human-linked features visible from orbit. The images come from instruments such as Landsat 9, Terra MODIS, Aqua MODIS, NOAA-20 VIIRS, and photographs from the International Space Station. Scenes include fires, a glacier collapse, a hurricane that intensified rapidly, dust and haze events, ocean blooms, and engineered features like floating solar panels. The set is presented by NASA’s Earth Observatory as part of routine satellite observation. Key observations: - A Landsat 9 false-color image shows the Palisades fire in Los Angeles County, which ignited January 7, 2025, and burned nearly 24,000 acres within about a week. - Landsat 9 imagery captured the collapse of the Birch Glacier in Switzerland’s Lötschental valley; debris buried much of the village of Blatten, moved roughly 2.5 kilometers downvalley, climbed partway up the opposite wall, and blocked the Lonza River after authorities began evacuating residents when instability was detected. - Terra MODIS documented Hurricane Erin’s rapid intensification from Category 1 to Category 5 between August 15–16, 2025; the storm did not make landfall but was associated with widespread power outages and evacuation orders in affected regions. - Other images show thick smoke plumes from British Columbia wildfires during a large fire season, dust transported from southeastern Iran over the Gulf of Oman, a large phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea, and floating solar arrays on India’s Narmada River. Summary: The 12 images provide a satellite perspective on several notable 2025 events and features, showing both environmental processes and human developments as observed from space. Undetermined at this time.