This site provides an overview of the earth's atmospheric greenhouse effect by briefly exploring the atmospheres of nearby planets and discussing the greenhouse gases of our atmosphere. Information at this site helps students to understand that the greenhouse effect is what makes this planet suitable for life as we know it and that the earth's atmosphere contains trace gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide, ... Full description.

The New Millennium Observatory (NeMO) is a seafloor observatory off the coast of Oregon, which studies the relationships between submarine volcanic events and the chemistry and distribution of hydrothermal vents and the biologic communities that depend on them. The research activities at NeMO provide an extraordinary educational opportunity, both from the daily reports from expeditions at sea and ... Full description.

Discovering Plate Boundaries is based on 5 world maps containing earthquake, volcano, topography, satellite gravity, and seafloor age data. The novel aspect of the exercise is the "jigsaw" manner in which student groups access the maps and use them to discover, classify, and describe plate boundary types. The exercise is based only on observation and description, which makes it useful at a wide variety ... Full description.

Natural indicators of climate change, such as melting glaciers, changes in time of flowering of trees in spring, and bird migrations are excellent indicators of long-term changes in climate. The behavior of animals and the characteristics of plants can be biological proxies for long-term scientific measurements. They are an accumulated response to long-term shifts in the surroundings, and they are ... Full description.

This site provides a brief overview of processes and properties associated with global climate change and its rate of change, which is of current concern to scientists. The carbon cycle is discussed including its sources, sinks, and release agents along with the fact that it is critical to the biosphere and must continue cycling to support life on Earth. The information at this site should lead students ... Full description.

This web site provides a short, interactive, four-question quiz on earthquakes focusing the the largest earthquake in both the world and in recent US history, preparedness, and the development of seismic instrumentation. Full description.

The Historical Hurricane Tracks tool is an interactive mapping application that allows you to easily search and display Atlantic Basin and East-Central Pacific Basin tropical cyclone data. At this web site you can learn about historical tropical cyclones occurring in different areas located throughout the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. The web site provides information about U.S. coastal ... Full description.

This resource provides an overview of the concept of global warming, which is thought to be due to man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, which are largely a result of the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. It explores the possibility that the impacts of global warming may include desertification and the destruction of other ecosystems, extreme weather conditions, and a danger to agriculture. ... Full description.

The Virtual Courseware Project produces interactive online simulations to help enhance the learning and teaching of geology and other Earth and environmental science topics. Each lab provides a brief introduction to the topic and a quiz to assess understanding of the material. Materials include an activity in which seismic waves are used to determine the magnitude of an earthquake and to locate its ... Full description.

This on-line project is part of the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) program. As they complete this series of lessons, students will use real-time data to solve a problem, study the correlation between earthquakes and tectonic plates, and determine whether or not there is a relationship between volcanoes and plate boundaries. Musical Plates has four Core Activities that ... Full description.