Vote for the Best Images of Earth from Space

mt. etna boiling over — An image of Mt. Etna boiling over is just one of the contenders in Earth Observatory's Tournament Earth. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data from the NASA EO-1 team.)

As March Madness heats up, the folks at NASA's Earth Observatory are running their own tournament to choose the best images of Earth from space.

Until April 4, readers can vote in Tournament Earth for the most compelling, shocking or awe-inspiring images of our planet. Current contenders capture red-hot lava spewing from Mt. Etna in Italy, the breaking of an iceberg of Antarctica's Pine Island Glaciers, and the trails left by ships gliding across the ocean. Like the traditional March Madness competition, at the end of voting each week, only half of the photos survive to the next round, until only one is left and crowned champion.

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Tia is the editor-in-chief (premium) and was formerly managing editor and senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com, Science News and other outlets. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.