This site covers many of the components of cloud formation and cloud types. Although written for the high school level, the middle school student could grasp most of the concepts with the assistance from the teacher. Specific concepts covered include the importance of and mechanisms that produce rising air, cloud types, and ptyes of precipitation. There are nice graphics and images to support the ... Full description.

This project gives students the opportunity to appreciate how difficult it is to predict the weather when making forecasts. By accessing an assortment of images and data, the students will be asked to forecast on a regular basis and determine the accuracy of the forecasts by comparing them with the actual observed data. Students will also complete specially constructed activities that introduce forecasting ... Full description.

This is a lesson that enables the student to describe how hurricanes move and change appearance over time through the use of the pubic domain image processing software. Full description.

This site offers an extensive collection of links to sites about water, life, and agriculture in the American West. Some of the articles are from the 19th century, when the arid, western United States was settled. Other pieces are more current and show how indigenous peoples of North America have survived in hostile terrains. Full description.

This site is a US Global Change Research Program Seminar, dated 23 November 1998. It consists of a series or reports that help students to understand how water has been used to transform desert regions into productive and livable environments. Full description.

Robowell is an automated process for monitoring selected ground-water-quality properties and constituents. It was developed to provide a cost effective monitoring system that met protocols expected for manual sampling. Users have access to real-time water quality data. There are also links to other water quality sites. Full description.

The Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Project develops and supports systems that provide information on the location and extent of red tide blooms in the Gulf of Mexico. The Experimental HAB bulletin alerts subscribers to developing blooms and changes in the location and extent of existing blooms. The HAB Mapping System (HABMapS) provides the position of an identified bloom and data from environmental conditions ... Full description.

This article on the strategic importance of water in the Middle East includes maps of the region and descriptions of the water sources, and addresses pollution sources, sources of present and past conflicts, and suggestons for solutions. Countries included in the report are Egypt, Suda, Ethiopia, Saudia Arabia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority. Full description.

This article from Agriculture21 cites the management practices and policies that will be necessary to avoid water crises in the coming three decades. There are links to information on raising water productivity, improving irrigation technology, and modernizing irrigation management. The text is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese. Full description.

This is a web-based activity using satellite images of the Gulf of Maine and the Carribean Sea. Students are asked to examine satellite data of sea surface temperatures. From this data they are to determine the temperature scale and how temperature differences are indicated. They also examine phytoplankton density images to determine where high phytoplankton densities are. Additional activities are ... Full description.