This webpage is part of NASA's Classroom of the Future program. It provides background information about how ocean temperatures, currents, and atmospheric conditions combine to produce an El Nino event. The site features text, scientific illustrations, a glossary, and links to other Classroom of the Future pages. Full description.

This document discusses the mission of ICESat, the benchmark Earth Observing System satellite intended to measure ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, topography, and vegetative cover. Questions of particular interest to the mission include: is sea level is rising?; are the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets growing or shrinking?; are ice sheets are capable of causing large, rapid changes ... Full description.

Much like El Nino, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) varies in a rhythmic pattern from decade to decade. The NAO is the relationship between a high-pressure system over the Azores Islands and a low-pressure system over Iceland. This site uses text, photographs, and maps to explain what the NAO is and how it affects weather in Europe, the United States, and as far away as the Middle East. Full description.

Milutin Milankovitch formulated a comprehensive mathematical model that calculated latitudinal differences in solar radiation upon the Earth's surface and the corresponding surface temperatures for 600,000 years prior to the year 1800. Readers can learn how Milankovitch developed his theories and how they were confirmed years later by climatic data found in deep-sea sediment cores, which indicated ... Full description.

This article explains how the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite has been used to track large-scale ocean waves called Rossby waves. This new data indicates that the waves may move faster than previously thought, which may have implications for global weather forecasting. Links to related sites are provided. Full description.

This site, part of NASA's Classroom of the Future program, describes how oceanic temperatures, currents, and atmospheric pressure patterns vary and, under certain conditions, produce an ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) event. It features text, scientific illustrations, a glossary, teacher pages, and a list of references. Full description.

The major wind systems of the earth determine much of the large scale oceanography with which we are familiar. The local winds modify the ocean and the overlying atmosphere on a minute-to-minute and day-to-day basis. This site consists of imagery of different types of local winds taken by the Space Shuttle. It also features text descriptions of local winds such as katabatic winds in Europe, the harmattan ... Full description.

This web page enables the user to plot a map of current or historic climate data for the United States using datasets provided by the National Climatic Data Center. Users may choose among three types of variables (precipitation, temperature, and Palmer drought severity index), a variety of types of plots, and a range of dates from the present as far back as 1895. Links to other sites, datasets and ... Full description.

This site offers access to real-time oceanographic and surface meteorological data from the TAO array of over 400 buoys in 70 moorings in the tropical Pacific Ocean. TAO datasets are typically used for monitoring and prediction of El Nino/La Nina events. At the data delivery page, users can select all or any combination of buoys, display type, data type(s), and time period. Other materials include ... Full description.

This is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's hurricane website. Features include weather watches, warnings, and forecasts. Also included are links to other NOAA sites, preparedness guides, imagery, and information on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Full description.