EarthScope Open the app
NASA SPACE APPS 2026 · CHALLENGE 7

EarthScopeTrend Detective

Is it really changing, or is it noise? We test NASA records of temperature, vegetation and rain, place by place.

Open the app Watch the 30-second video GitHub
Drag to turn the Earth
The challenge

Real change, or noise?

One hot year isn’t a trend. NASA asked for a tool that shows what’s changing, where, how fast, and whether it’s real. In plain words.

01 · SEE

See the change

Pick a place and a record. Get the change per decade. Or just ask: “Is Punjab getting greener?”

02 · TEST

Test it

Every trend is checked against chance. The verdict: high, moderate, or noise.

03 · FORECAST

Look ahead

Ten years out, drawn as a range. Models that can’t beat an average get dropped.

How it works

From orbit to answer

Drag any scene. Models are simplified.

STEP 1 · SEE

Plant health from orbit

Healthy leaves bounce back near-infrared light and soak up red. Compare the two and you get NDVI: about 0.8 over forest, 0.1 over desert.

NDVI = (NIR − Red) / (NIR + Red)
STEP 2 · WEIGH

Weighing water from space

Two GRACE-FO satellites fly 220 km apart. Mass below tugs on them and shifts the gap by microns. That’s how they catch water vanishing underground.

STEP 3 · PROVE

Signal or noise?

Grey: fake worlds with the same noise and no trend. Green: the real place. If it climbs clear of the grey, it’s real.

STEP 4 · DISCOVER

Greener fields, falling water

Since 2010 Punjab’s fields got greener while rain stayed flat. The water is likely pumped from underground. GRACE-FO data, coming next, will show it.

The satellites

NASA missions behind EarthScope

Pick one to inspect it.

Team

The people behind EarthScope

Data credits

Built on open NASA data