Learn geography
Explore Earth’s physical systems—from mountains and rivers to climate patterns and fragile ecosystems. This hub organizes our best guides to landforms and water, weather and climate, biodiversity, and today’s pressing environmental issues. Start here, then dive into focused subtopics or explore places by continent, country, and city.
What is an atoll? An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets encircling a central lagoon, formed as volcanic islands gradually subside and reefs…
What is the Valley of Geysers? It’s the world’s second-largest concentration of geysers—about 90 active vents packed into a 3.7-mile canyon—fuelled by heat from Kamchatka’s volcanoes. Nestled in…
If you picture endless dunes when you hear “desert,” you’re only half right. Some deserts are white with ice, not yellow with sand. The key is dryness, not…
When you read that a policy works “in your area,” what is that “area,” exactly? A neighborhood? A county? A river basin? In geography and data analysis, a…
In the 1980s, climate change sounded like a far-off problem. Today, school kids, farmers, and coastal city mayors all use the term because they see changes around them.…
Climate change is a long-term shift in Earth’s climate system, not just a run of hot days or a bad season. The modern change matters because it is…
If you’ve ever pictured a “big ant” as something the size of a grain of rice, the world’s giants will reset your scale fast. But here’s the reason…
Khudadov Forest — a forest situated on the left bank of the Mtkvari River in Tbilisi. Perched on a mountain slope in the northern part of the city,…
The quest to identify the world's lowest points is a fascinating journey across diverse geographies. From the hypersaline waters of the Dead Sea to the mysterious depths of…
People ask this a lot—and get different answers. That’s because “most volcanoes” can mean (1) the most volcanoes known to have erupted in the last ~12,000 years (the…
