There's no view of our planet quite like the one astronauts enjoy from the International Space Station (ISS).
From 250 miles up, astronauts have a bird's-eye view of Earth's natural wonders. They can see the raw power of hurricanes, floods, and wildfires that sweep across the planet. And they have a front-row seat to witness the devastating effects of pollution and climate change unfold in real time.
Many astronauts take photos of what they see during their six-month stay on the space station, and now the NASA Johnson Space Center's Earth Observations team has rounded up their favorites from 2015.
Here are the top 15 photos taken this year by astronauts on board the ISS, according to NASA.
A dust plume swirls over Lake Chad in the Sahara Desert on February 2.
Volcanic ashy smog (called "vog") and vortices swirl over Hawaii on February 8.
The peaks of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta are visible in northern Colombia on February 27.
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