The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the concept of relative air mass and demonstrate how solar elevation angle affects the intensity of sunlight that reaches an observer on the ground. Students work in teams to calculate air mass using simple geometry. Teacher background materials are included. Full description.

The purpose of this activity is to explore the connections between cloud type, cloud cover, and weather and stimulate student interest in taking cloud type observations. Students observe cloud type and coverage and weather conditions over a five-day period and correlate these observations. Students make and test predictions using these observations. The intended outcome is that students learn to draw ... Full description.

The purpose of this activity is to determine the amount of moisture input to the local environment by measuring rain and snowfall and to measure the pH of precipitation. To do so students use a rain gauge and a snowboard to measure the daily amount of precipitation. Special pH measuring techniques for precipitation are used to determine the pH of rain and melted snow. Intended outcomes are that students ... Full description.

The purpose of this activity is to observe, document, and classify changes in visibility and sky color over time and to understand the relationship between sky color, visibility, and aerosols in the atmosphere. The intended outcome is that students become aware of the changes in visibility and sky color due to particles suspended in the air. Full description.

This resource provides instructions on how to log atmosphere data using a Rainwise weather station. A weather station is setup to measure and record atmospheric measurements at 15-minute intervals and can be transferred to the GLOBE program via email. Students can view data for their school that are continuous and show variations within a day. The data collected includes wind speed and direction and ... Full description.

This resource provides instructions on how to log atmosphere data using a WeatherHawk weather station. A weather station is setup to measure and record atmospheric measurements at 15-minute intervals and can be transferred to the GLOBE program via email. Students can view data for their school that are continuous and show variations within a day. The data collected includes wind speed and direction ... Full description.

This USGS site contains graphs, tables, and charts for the following ground water topics: What is ground water, ground water flow diagrams, importance of groundwater, and trends in ground-water use. Ground water quality, pesticides, aquifers, waterwells, artesian wells, sinkholes, and land subsidence are also covered. There are a variety of links within all of the above topics and a very complete ... 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.

These lessons help students develop a better understanding of the importance of well-managed water use while exploring the concepts of a watershed, land use, aquifers, and water engineering. The material focuses on the historical water use decision affecting the Owens River Valley in California. Materials lists, procedures, assessment recommendations, and extension ideas are provided. Links to additional ... Full description.

This map gallery contains a set of maps depicting water use in the United States for the year 2000. The maps are thematic in nature, with different colors used to represent ranges of data values. There are maps depicting usage for a variety of purposes: total use, domestic and public supply, irrigation and livestock, industry and mining, electric power generation, and aquaculture. This is part of ... Full description.