In this week's Beyond the Data blog, Deke Arndt explains the climate behind this spring's prairie fires.

Maps of vegetation health products that allow us to monitor the status of vegetation around the world from space.

Explore the number of weather records broken over recent periods. Compare counts of temperature and precipitation records in the United States or across the globe.

Summary: This framework makes it relatively simple to create interactive mapping web sites that incorporate data and multimedia, and permit authorized users to contribute additions and changes.

Drought has gripped many islands across the Pacific thanks to El Niño and a lack of rainfall. 

Monthly wind roses, which are plots that characterize the speed and direction of winds at a location, based on historical data.

Summary: Half of the global supply of seafood for human consumption comes from aquaculture. The unique circumstances of some aquaculture operations provide resilience to weather- and climate-related impacts; other operations are increasingly vulnerable to warming waters and acidification.

Summary: Coral reefs, estuaries, and kelp forests provide shelter and feeding grounds for fisheries. Climate-informed management practices may increase the resilience of these features and the diverse habitats they provide.

Summary: Climate-related impacts are only one of the threats to our nation's living marine resources. Fisheries and tourism—and the economies of communities supported by these sectors—rely on healthy marine ecosystems. Research provides information for effective management of these resources.

Summary: The atmosphere's increasing abundance of carbon dioxide is increasing the acidity of ocean waters, and the ocean's net accumulation of heat energy is increasing water temperatures. Changes in ocean conditions result in changes to marine ecosystems.