In this lesson, students will use the Live Access Server to access and use historical satellite data for the Costa Rican (Central American) region. Students will examine monthly precipitation averages over three years to look for seasonal patterns. Detailed Procedure and Materials, Vocabulary linked to an On-line glossary, and Teacher Notes are provided. Full description.

In this lesson, students download cloud coverage and surface data from the NASA Clouds and Earth?s Radiant Energy System (CERES) Student?s Cloud Observations On-line (S?COOL) student observation database website, then use a spreadsheet program to develop plots of the data. Students explore the relationship between cloud coverage and humidity for low-, mid-, and high-level clouds. The lesson provides ... Full description.

In this lesson, students collect sea surface temperature (SST) data from the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS), create time-series line plots, and use the plots to study a major coral bleaching event. Corals feed on algae that thrive in the sunlit water surrounding a reef. However, when water temperatures get too warm, the algae food source dies and corals turn a whitish color. Through scientific ... Full description.

This activity prepares the student to launch an investigation of the relationship between precipitation and Streamflow for a local watershed. It can enrich a study of the water cycle. Following the step-by-step instruction in this case study, students will locate, download, format, and finally graph one year of Web-based data for these two variables. Included is a graph that highlights the details ... Full description.

In this chapter, users explore relationships between air quality and population density using the image visualization tool, Google Earth. Humans discovered long ago that burning fossil fuels was a convenient way to get power. In engines for automobiles and plants that generate electricity, huge volumes of oil, gas, and coal are burned every day. Where many people live together in concentrated areas, ... Full description.

This lesson is designed to help students gain knowledge in graphing a microset of data, then using the graphs to investigate trends in cloud coverage over a given locale. Students are provided content-related activities to enhance background knowledge in cloud types, and then are provided detailed instructions on how to download data from the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS) and to use Excel ... Full description.

In this lesson, students hypothesize what types of clouds they believe will create the most precipitation (rainfall) over Nashville, TN. Scientists have studied the physical properties of clouds and have developed instruments onboard satellites to characterize the types of clouds they see below. Some satellites have instruments that allow them to measure rainfall as well. Students use the Live Access ... Full description.

This activity allows students to use radiosonde data from a weather balloon launch to distinguish the characteristics of the lower atmosphere. Full description.

This lesson plan examines data in several formats in order to determine the presence or absence of seasonal variability in tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations. Full description.

In this three-part lesson, students explore the Live Access Server (LAS) and produce plots of sea surface temperature. They then prepare a time series of data for particular location(s) on the Gulf Stream and use Excel to produce and analyze graphs of sea surface temperature. One of the most studied and important ocean currents of the world lies along the eastern coast of the United States and is ... Full description.