California has always taken pride in being on the cutting edge of technology but in the case of solar, it may be catching up with some of its south-western peers in the United States. The Terra satellite used the on-board ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) imaging system to take these pictures of two solar farms in California. On the left is First Solar’s Desert Sunlight solar generation facility that has recently come on board. It is expected to generate 550 MW of electricity from Riverside County. On the right is the the Topaz solar farm in San Luis Obispo County generating a similar amount of electricity.

NASA’s Terra spacecraft which studies Earth captured a couple of volcanoes in Guatemala, including one – Fuego – that had just erupted. Located just 35 kilometers from the capital Guatemala City, the ash and steam released from Fuego closed down the city’s airport. Fuego is seen on the left hand side of the picture, with the smaller inset showing a thermal IR view from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument. Other active Guatemalan volcanoes shown in the image are the Acatenango (top), Volcano de Agua (middle), and Pacaya volcano (right).

Space enthusiasts around the world were filled with excitement just over a month ago when the Indian Space Research Organization’s Mars Orbiter Mission successfully placed the space probe into Martian orbit. But in November 2013, while it was still in Earth’s orbit, it used its Mars Colour Camera, at a wide 3.53 kilometer resolution, to take this picture of Earth. The picture captured the Indian subcontinent along with the Middle-East, parts of China, Eurasia and Africa with interesting weather patterns visible over the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.

The drought cycle in California has seen an immense increase in the pressure being felt by residents of the state and its surrounding region. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been taking satellite images of the declining level of groundwater/aquifers in California, with the loss in water supplies shown here transitioning down from 2002 to 2008 and finally at their lowest level so far in 2014.  The greatest losses have been suffered by the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins which include the fertile Central Valley – a large consumer of water used for agriculture.

Gold is a metal that has several unique properties and has long held a special place in human society. Whether its origins lie in  supernova nucleosynthesis or the collision of neutron stars, gold has been associated with value due to its rarity, malleability, resistance to corrosion, pleasing colour and specialized industrial applications. Gold’s symbol is Au and its atomic number is 79.

The Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 took this picture of the “Super Pit” gold mine near the town of Kalgoorlie which lies in the semi-arid region that is Western Australia. This open pit gold mine is a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Newmont mining. It produces approximately 850,000 ounces (28 tonnes) of gold per year.

The world has been following the volcanic eruptions in Iceland and the subsequent earthquakes and ash clouds that are likely to follow. These are both big concerns with the latter potentially having a significant impact to airline travel through large parts of the northern hemisphere.

On September 1st, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) spacecraft observed from orbit the eruption of the Bardarbunga volcano at Holuhraun, Iceland. This image captures the kilometer long fissure from which lava is erupting both a channeled and more expansive lava flows.

The mobile phone revolution and the projected increase in hybrid-electric and electric cars/transportation has brought the chemical element lithium to the masses. This metal is a key component in high-powered consumer and industrial battery technology. NASA’s Terra Earth observation satellite took this picture of Rockwood Lithium’s mining operations located in the Clayton Valley of Nevada. This is one of the very few lithium mining operations in the United States.

NASA’s Terra satellite used its Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) to capture this thermal infrared view of wildfires burning in Dominican Republic’s Valle Nuevo National Park.  The predominant area of this part of the national forest/park still has healthy vegetation which is shown in red. Active fires and hot spots are shown in yellow while the burned areas are dark gray.

Mount Baektu is quite the breath taking formation located on the China – North Korea border, with a 2,744 meter summit capped by a lake (Heaven Lake) which is formed within a crater. This image was taken by NASA’s Terra satellite using the ASTER instrument, which has been using 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, to map the Earth’s surface and document changes since its 1999 launch.  Another interesting fact about Baektu Mountain is that it is an active volcano which hasn’t erupted since 1903.

NASA’s Aqua scientific research satellite took this picture of first named storm of the 2014 North American hurricane season. This May 25, 2014 picture taken near the west coast of Mexico of Hurricane Amanda as it was building itself up as a category 4/5 hurricane with winds as high as 155 mph. Hurricane Amanda eventually weakened to a tropical depression into the eastern Pacific ocean.