Who we are
Driven to protect the planet and its people.

The Science Directorate is a unique NASA organization devoted to finding out how the earth and its atmosphere are interacting and changing -- and what that means for the health of our planet and our quality of life. We search for and create better ways of gathering, measuring and analyzing atmospheric data so that we can better understand and track the effects of human activity on the atmosphere. We believe a healthy planet is possible if we act responsibly based on what we know to be true.

What we do
We find answers to some of the greatest questions affecting our planet and its people such as:

What changes the climate?
Is the ozone layer thinning or recovering?
How do these changes impact public health, air quality
and our economic security?

The Science Directorate's Climate Science Branch, Atmospheric Composition Branch, and Chemistry and Dynamics Branch work with our Atmospheric Science Data Center to study changes in the Earth and its atmosphere. We translate those findings into meaningful knowledge that inspires action -- by other scientists, policymakers, government agencies, private enterprises, students and the general public.