NOAA's new interactive map shows all the vegetation on the planet

From TreeHugger:

Thanks to the NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite, NOAA has put together an incredible interactive map of the world's greenery. We can now see to an amazing degree of detail which parts of the planet is covered in green and which are bare. The map is thanks to the ability of the satellite to collect 2 TB of data every week -- and that's only the portion of data collected for the vegetation index!

Tornado Tracks: 56 years of tornado tracks by F-scale

Got this data from NOAA via the spectacular Data.gov. It tracks 56 years of tornado paths along with a host of attribute information. Here, the tracks are categorized by their F-Scale (which isn't the latest and greatest means but good enough for a hack like me), where brighter strokes represent more violent storms.

Also: earthquakes since 1898, major fires since 2001, and hurricanes since 1851.

NOAA aquatic bots break the ice on climate research

From GNC Tech:

Over the years, NOAA has sent various data-taking probes deep into the Arctic Ocean looking for answers about climate change. In this latest, extreme test of technology endurance, the agency's swimming robots deliver high science at low cost.

Report on the Status of U.S. Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries releases the 15th Annual Report to Congress on the Status of the Nation’s Fisheries. This report documents our national journey toward ending overfishing and rebuilding the nation’s fisheries.

Since 1997, this annual report to Congress identifies the status of our managed stocks and complexes. It provides a 'snap-shot' in time of where our nation’s fisheries were at the end of 2011 in relation to their thresholds of overfishing and overfished. This report does not capture the dynamic nature of sustainability and the many factors that may influence a fishery and require harvests to be adjusted.