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LightHawk Portal

Climate

Impact seen at scale

From retreating glaciers to returning wetlands, LightHawk documents climate impacts and how communities are building resilience in response.

Glacier meeting the sea in Prince William Sound, Alaska

The Focus

Climate change is a story of scale

Scale is exactly what the aerial perspective delivers. Shrinking reservoirs, retreating glaciers, drought-stressed forests, and advancing wildfire risk: LightHawk turns abstract trends into evidence no one can dismiss.

We fly with researchers documenting change, journalists telling the story, and communities planning for resilience against what’s coming — because the window to act is limited, and seeing clearly is the first step to action.

View the Flight Map

How Flight delivers

What wings make possible

Some change is too vast to see from the ground. Here’s how LightHawk gets above it.

Documenting change

Repeat photography of reservoirs, snowpack, and shorelines builds the visual record of a warming West.

Science in the air

Researchers collect imagery and data across landscapes too vast to sample from the ground.

Storytelling that moves

Journalists and photographers fly with us so the climate story is seen — not just read.

From the Flight Log

Recent developments

The plane flies above glaciers along Colorado's Continental Divide.

Focus: Climate

Pilot’s View: Above Colorado’s Changing Glaciers

Following a year of record-low snowfall, Colorado State University researchers are documenting how the state’s glaciers are changing. To capture…

Flown with Colorado State University

Ice from a glacier is barely visible thanks to dirt and rocks covering the ice, blending it into the rock face.

Featured Mission

Twelve Glaciers. Two and a Half Hours.

Colorado’s glaciers and perennial snowfields are shrinking. Documenting those changes means reaching remote mountain sites and gathering photographs from many…

Flown with Colorado State University

Keep Exploring

More priorities

Climate is one piece. LightHawk drives conservation forward across many fronts.

Red rock formations from above Priority

Landscapes

Using aviation to ensure a sustainable future for our planet’s most remarkable and ecologically important landscapes.

Explore Landscapes River bends winding through the landscape from above Priority

Watersheds

From water-quality monitoring to habitat restoration, safeguarding the rivers and wetlands that keep ecosystems alive.

Explore Watersheds Aerial view of wetlands and waterways Priority

Coastlines

Taking flight to protect oceans, coastlines, and the rich biodiversity that coastal communities depend on.

Explore Coastlines

Put the aerial perspective to work.

If your organization works on climate conservation, a LightHawk flight is available at no direct cost to qualifying partners.

Request a Flight Become a Partner