This lesson is designed to help students gain knowledge in graphing a microset of data, then using the graphs to investigate the relationship between volcanic activity and the presence of atmospheric aerosols. The lesson provides detailed procedure, related links and sample graphs, follow-up questions and extensions, and Teacher Notes. Full description.

In this lesson, students download cloud and surface data from the NASA CERES S-COOL website student observation database, then develop and compare graphs to explore the relationships between surface temperature, pressure, and humidity. Students then investigate possible patterns in cloud-types and the surface conditions for several locations on a particular date of their choice from the S-COOL data. ... Full description.

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. For this lesson, students will hypothesize what types of clouds they believe will create the most precipitation (rainfall) over Nashville, TN. Students use the Live ... Full description.

One of the most studied and important ocean currents of the world lies along the eastern coast of the United States and is called the Gulf Stream. It derives its name from its source region of warm water in the Gulf of Mexico. For the past two decades, scientists have been collecting sea surface temperature (SST) data from satellites, buoys and ships in the Gulf Stream and Atlantic Basin. In this ... Full description.

The purpose of this resource is to understand that physical factors - temperature and precipitation - limit the growth of vegetative ecosystems. Students observe and record seasonal changes in their local study site. They establish that these phenomena follow annual cycles and conclude the activity by creating displays that illustrate the repeating pattern associated with the appearance and disappearance ... Full description.

This description of the El Nino pattern in the eastern Pacific is from NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. In addition to text and diagrams, it provides three weather related activities for lab or classroom. Full description.

Users can choose to download or order six posters that depict water-resources topics and are drawn in a cartoon format. Written narrative on the back elaborates on the topic of each poster. They are available in color, or in black-and-white for coloring. Full description.

This site offers the online version of a book published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It is intended to provide a brief introduction to the concept of plate tectonics, highlighting some of the people and discoveries that advanced the development of the theory. It is the companion volume to the map, 'This Dynamic Planet', which shows the locations of major volcanic belts, fault systems, ... Full description.

This easy but effective lesson uses NASA CERES satellite percent coverage surface data along with a world map and asks students to locate landmasses and bodies of water at Earth's Equator. Students will map locations using latitude and longitude coordinates. Using the microset of satellite data included with the lesson to investigate surface characteristics, students will apply percentage to determine ... Full description.

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 observation, it has been determined that coral bleaching may occur when sea surface temperature (SST) exceeds 30C or 86F for a week or longer. During late 2005, a major coral bleaching event occurred when ... Full description.