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Earth's climate is the product of many rich and complex systems.

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It's affected by water in its many forms; on land, in the air, in the oceans, and as ice.

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It feels influences from vegetation, from soil conditions, from the carbon cycle, from human impacts.

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We study and observe our planet's ever-changing conditions in many ways, from many locations.

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One location in particular provides a unique and powerful vantage point,

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allowing us to see our planet in high detail and on a broad scale. Space.

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Keeping an Eye on Earth - A NASA ScienceCast

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The International Space Station is home to many instruments

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that help with the study of our planet in a variety of ways.

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Each is an amazing resource for scientists and researchers,

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but together they paint a picture of Earth richer and more detailed than any one instrument could provide.

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From the vantage point of the orbiting laboratory, GEDI measures Earth's surface vegetation,

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producing 3D views of forest height and structure, and the surface topography beneath.

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Forests and other plant life respond to a variety of environmental stresses,

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and the ECOSTRESS instrument allows researchers to study plant temperature

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and provides insights into how life on Earth responds to changes in water availability.

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OCO-3 measures atmospheric CO2 with high accuracy,

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helping researchers better understand CO2 increases and decreases and the impacts of those changes.

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And through the use of two cutting edge spectral imagers on the station,

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HISUI and DESIS, researchers have access to highly detailed information on materials across Earth's surface,

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from identifying minerals and rock types to distinguishing between plant species.

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There's another, and often overlooked observational instrument on board the space station: 

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crew members, equipped with digital cameras.

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Over 3,000,000 images have been collected by astronauts from the station,

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and those images can be put to a variety of uses.

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William Stefanov is Branch Chief for the Exploration Science Office,

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a part of the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate at Johnson Space Center.

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He says: Hand held cameras used by the crew act as a compliment

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to the data gathered by the station's various instruments.

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And that comes down to the ability of the crew to take pictures

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that are panoramic and oblique versus a straight down look.

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That panoramic view can be quite useful when observing natural disasters as they occur,

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such as wildfires or volcanic eruptions. 

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Stefanov explains: A camera is an excellent tool for examining the plumes created by wildfires or volcanos,

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because it gives you an immediate 3-dimensional picture of what the plume looks like,

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what its structure is, and how far it's extending. 

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The observational instruments aboard the space station provide science capabilities

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that are more than the sum of their parts. These instruments, along with photography from crew members,

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serve to keep a multifunctional eye on the condition of our home planet.

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For more science from the International Space Station, go to www.nasa.gov/iss-science.

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For more eye-opening information about space exploration visit science.nasa.gov.