National Geographic is an American magazine that is noted for its cover stories and accompanying photography. Throughout the 1980s National Geographic's cover stories showcased historical events such as the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and the effects of the weather phenomenon known as El Niño. Cover stories included articles written by notable writers such as Peter Benchley, Gilbert M. Grosvenor and Rick Gore. Cover photos were published by notable photographers such as Emory Kristof, Bill Curtsinger and David Alan Harvey.

The 1980s saw articles written and photographed at locations around the globe featuring outer space, like the September 1983 issue titled "Satellites That Serve Us", written by Thomas Y. Canby with a photo on the cover of the Space Shuttle Challenger, photographed by NASA. Articles featured on the cover of the magazine also included human-interest stories such as "Visit to Forbidden Tibet", written and photographed by Fred Ward featuring a Tibetan Shepherdess in the February 1980 issue. Many geographical locations were featured including the Atlantic Ocean and the discovery of the Titanic in the December 1985 article "How We Found Titanic", written and photographed by Robert Ballard.

In the June 1985 issue, Debra Denker wrote the cover story titled "Along Afghanistan's War-torn Frontier", writing about the Soviet and Afghanistan war. The photo on the cover of the magazine featured a picture of a Green-eyed Afghanistan girl (Sharbat Gula) photographed by Steve McCurry. This cover image is National Geographic's most recognized photo.

1980

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images Voyager Views Jupiter's Dazzling Realm January 1980 Rick Gore NASA Jupiter Visit to Forbidden Tibet February 1980 Fred Ward Fred Ward Tibetan woman Shepherdess Journey to China's Far West March 1980 Rick Gore Bruce Dale Chinese elder man Unexpected Glory in Canada's Cold Seas April 1980 Larry Kohl David Doubilet Sea anemone off British Columbia Cheetahs of the Serengeti May 1980 George W. and Lori Herbison George W. and Lori Herbison Cheetah cubs on a rock Living With Orangutans June 1980 Birutė M.F. Galdikas Rod Brindamour Baby Orangutan with toddler in a tub Ancient Bulgaria's Golden Treasures July 1980 Colin Renfrew James L. Stanfield Silver horse statue Man's 80 Centuries in Veracruz August 1980 S. Jeffrey K. Wilkerson David Hiser Niches Pyramid Saudi Arabia: The Kingdom and Its Power September 1980 Robert Azzi Robert Azzi Camel race Bamboo, The Giant Grass October 1980 Luis Marden Jim Brandenburg Bamboo swords in China Windsor Castle November 1980 Anthony Holden James L. Stanfield Windsor Castle with horses The Aztecs December 1980 Bart Dowell David Hiser Obsidian knife

1981

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images Mount St. Helens January 1981 Not stated Douglas Miller A house in front of Mount St. Helens Where Oil and Wildlife Mix February 1981 Whooping crane When the Space Shuttle Finally Flies March 1981 Rick Gore Jon Schneeberger Space Shuttle Ireland: Its Long Trevail April 1981 Joseph Judge Cotton Coulson Irish stone maze Jawbreaker for Sharks May 1981 Valerie Taylor Ron Taylor Blue shark biting Valeire Taylor's arm The Dispossessed June 1981 Larry Kohl Kevin Fleming Saturn: Riddles of the Rings July 1981 Rick Gore NASA Saturn Maya Art Discovered in Cave August 1981 George E. Stuart Wilbur E. Garrett Maya cave site Troubled Odyssey of Vietnamese Fisherman September 1981 Harvey Arden Steve Wall Vietnamese girl Columbia: Our Phenomenal First Flight October 1981 Jon Schneeberger Space Shuttle The Natural World of Aldo Leopold November 1981 Boyd Gibbons Jim Brandenburg Deer drinking Panda's in the Wild December 1981 George B. Schaller George B. Schaller Panda bear

1982

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images Two Berlins January 1982 Priit J. Vesilind Cotton Coulson East Berlin soldier Napoleon February 1982 John J. Putnam Gordon W. Gahan Giza Plateau Sudan: Arab-African Giant March 1982 Robert Caputo Robert Caputo Sudan woman with boulder on head The Face and Faith of Poland April 1982 Not stated Not stated Polish Coal miner The Temples of Angkor May 1982 Peter T. White David Alan Harvey Angkor temple Namibia: Nearly a Nation? June 1982 Bryan Hodgson Des and Jen Bartlett Ostrich with chick In the Wake of Sinbad July 1982 Tim Severin Richard Greenhill Boom (ship) Papua New Guinea: Journey Through Time August 1982 François Leydet David Austin New Guinea tribesman The Bahamas: Boom times and Buccaneering September 1982 Peter Benchley Bruce Dale Woman diving off of a Sailboat The Chip: Electronic Mini Marvel That is Changing Your Life October 1982 Allen A. Boraiko Charles O'Rear Microchip in the palm of a hand Pueblo Pottery November 1982 David L. Arnold Jerry D. Jacka Clay pottery Family Life of Lions December 1982 Des and Jen Bartlett Jen Bartlett Lioness and her cub

1983

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images Rainforests: Teaming Life of a Rainforest January 1983 Carol and David Hughes Carol and David Hughes Poison arrow frog Peoples of the Arctic February 1983 David Hiser Alan Harvey Iñupiat child Ghosts Ships of the War of 1812 March 1983 Daniel A. Nelson Emory Kristof Hamilton–Scourge The Fascinating World of Trash April 1983 Peter T. White Louie Psihoyos Art from trash A Century Old, The Wonderful Brooklyn Bridge May 1983 John G. Morris Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper Brooklyn Bridge The Once and Future Universe June 1983 Rick Gore David Malin Horsehead Nebula Exploring a 140-Year-Old Ship Under the Arctic Ice July 1983 Joseph B. MacInnis Emory Kristof WASP diving suit The Bird Men August 1983 Luis Marden Charles O'Rear Ultralight Satellites That Serve Us September 1983 Thomas Y. Canby NASA Space Shuttle Challenger Niger's Wodaabe: "People of the Taboo" October 1983 Carol Beckwith Carol Beckwith Wodaabe man The Last Supper: Restoration Reveals Leonardo's Masterpiece November 1983 Carlo Bertelli O. Louis Mazzatenta The Last Supper Byzantine Empire: Rome of the East December 1983 Merle Severy James L. Stanfield Madonna art

1984

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images Southeast Alaska: An Incredible Feasting of Whales January 1984 Al Giddings Al Giddings Humpback whale El Niño: Global Weather Disaster February 1984 Thomas Y. Canby Thomas Nebbia Elephants at a water hole in Africa with researchers Laser: "A Splendid Light" For Man's Use March 1984 Allen A. Boraiko Charles O'Rear 3D Holography Hunting the Greenland NarwhalApril 1984 Ivars Stills Ivars Stills Dog sled team The Dead Do Tell Tales at Vesuvius May 1984 Rick Gore O. Luis Mazzatenta Herculaneum skeleton Pakistan to Bangladesh: India By Rail June 1984 Paul Theroux Steve McCurry Train in front of Taj Mahal Escape From Slavery: Underground Railroad July 1984 Charles L. Blockson Jerry Pinkney Harriet Tubman Mexico City: An Alarming Giant August 1984 Bart McDowell Stephanie Maze Mexican pilgrims Man and Manatee September 1984 Alice J. Hall Fred Bravendam Manatee with diver Pollen: Breath of Life and Sneezes October 1984 Cathy Newman Martha Cooper Bubble helmet Chocolate: Food of the Gods November 1984 Gordon Young James Stanfield man with Chocolate Statue of Liberty Monsoons: Life Breath of Half the World December 1984 Priit J. Visilind Steve McCurry Monsoon survivor man with sewing machine

1985

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images Koko's Kitten January 1985 Jane Vessels Ronald H. Cohn Koko the Gorilla with kitten Greenland's 500-Year-Old Mummies February 1985 John Lee Qilakitsoq child mummy Hazardous Waste: Storing Up Trouble March 1985 Allen A. Boraiko Fred Ward Man in Hazmat suit When the Moguls Ruled April 1985 Mike Edwards Roland Michaud Woman playing a Sitar, India Vietnam Memorial: To Heal a Nation May 1985 Joel Swerdlow Nick Sebastian man placing flower at Vietnam Memorial Along Afghanistan's War-torn Frontier June 1985 Debra Denker Steve McCurry Afghan Girl 16th-Century Basque Whaling in America July 1985 16th-Century Shipwreck with diver Bill Curtsinger Our Restless Planet Earth August 1985 Rick Gore David Robert Austin Jillaroo resting her horse Sichuan: China Changes Course September 1985 Ross Terrill Cary Wolinsky Chinese couple holding a pig Arabia's Frankincense Trail October 1985 Thomas Abercrombie Lynn Abercrombie Dye Motif on a woman's hand The Search For Early Man November 1985 American Bank Note Company Fossil skull hologram How We Found Titanic December 1985 Robert Ballard Robert Ballard RMS Titanic

1986

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images C.M. Russell: Cowboy Artist January 1986 Bart McDowell MacKay Collection C.M. Russell watercolor Dilemma of Independence for South Africa's Ndebele February 1986 David Jeffery Peter Magubane South African woman Secrets of the Giant Panda March 1986 George B. Schaller George B. Schaller Zhen Zhen (panda) Río Azul: Lost City of the Mayah April 1986 Richard E. W. Adams William H. Bond Río Azul The Serengeti: A Portfolio May 1986 Mitsuaki Iwagō Mitsuaki Iwagō Lioness and her cub Tracking the Snow Leopard June 1986 Not stated Snow Leopard Liberty: Her Lamp Relit July 1986 Alice J. Hall Robert Sacha Statue of Liberty Oregon Trail: The Itch To Move West August 1986 Boyd Gibbons Denver Public Library Settlers North to the Pole September 1986 Will Steger Jim Brandenburg Dogsled explorer Soviets in Space October 1986 Thomas Y. Canby TASS Leonid Kizim Our Search For the True Columbus Landfall November 1986 Joseph Judge Courtesy of British Library 1493 Italian Woodcut A Long Last Look at Titanic December 1986 Robert D. Ballard Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution RMS Titanic

1987

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images Medicine's New Vision January 1987 Howard Sochurek Howard Sochurek CT scan of a Tumor Iceland: Life Under the Glaciers February 1987 Louise E. Levathes Bob Krist Icelandic girl Ingibjörg Björnsdóttir. North Dakota: Tough Times on the Prairie March 1987 Bryan Hodgson Annie Griffiths with plane Seals and their Kin April 1987 Roger L. Gentry Marty Sniderman At Home With the Arctic Wolf May 1987 L. David Mech Jim Brandenburg Arctic Wolf The Patowmack Canal: Waterway That Led to the Constitution June 1987 Author Kenneth Garrett A Bateau on the Patowmack Canal The Prodigious Soybean July 1987 Fred Hapgood Chris Johns (photographer) Woman eating a soybean, Japan Africa's Stricken Sahel August 1987 William S. Ellis Steve McCurry Sahel child crying Jade: Stone of Heaven September 1987 Fred Ward Fred Ward Mayan mask Woman of Arabia October 1987 Marianne Alireza Jodi Cobb Saudi mother and child on swing Süleyman the Magnificent November 1987 Merle Severy James L. Stanfield Nomadic child with hand Oldest Known Shipwreck December 1987 George F. Bass Bill Curtsinger Bronze Age Merchant ship

1988

+ Title Date Author Photographer Images One Hundred Years of Increasing and Diffusing Geographic Knowledge January 1988 William H. Goetzmann Not stated Photomontage Australia: A Bicentennial Down Under February 1988 Not stated Michael O'Brien Australian father and son Hello Anchorage, Goodbye Dream March 1988 Larry L. King Chris Johns Windsurfing near Icebergs Ghosts of War April 1988 Peter Benchley David Doubilet Japanese biplane underwater Wool: Fabric of History May 1988 Nina Hyde Cary Wolinsky Shepherd wearing wool Guatemala: A Fragile Democracy June 1988 Griffin Smith Jr. James Nachtwey Devout men of Antigua When the Moors Ruled Spain July 1988 Thomas J. Abercrombie Bruno Barbey Moroccan woman Lemurs: On the Edge of Survival August 1988 Alison Jolly Frans Lanting Lemurs 100 Years: Reporting on "The world and all that is in it" September 1988 Not stated Not stated Graphic lettering The Peopling of the Earth October 1988 Staff writer Alexander Marshack Carving on Mammoth tusk Exploring the Earth November 1988 William E. Garrett Éric Valli Nepalis Honey hunter Can Man Save This Fragile Earth? December 1988 Gilbert M. Grosvenor American Bank Note Holographics 3D hologram of an Earth

1989