The Farallon Plate (traced in blue) disappeared into the Earth's mantle 30 million years ago. A Princeton University geophysicist's simulations show Farallon scraping beneath North America for 1,000 miles before sinking to form the Rocky Mountains.

A synthetic aperture radar satellite captured the Amazon River and the surrounding rain forest. Seamless radar mosaics developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory uncover flooding and deforestation throughout the Amazon region.

 

Magnetic field lines emanate from the sun in a simulation of a coronal mass ejection. Naval Research Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center scientists are searching for what triggers these ejections, which have the potential to damage satellites and power grids.

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