Students will make predictions by linking current scientific satellite data to concerns about global climate change. Using maps of sea surface temperature (SST) and ocean surface winds, students will learn how differential heating of Earth results in circulation patterns in the atmosphere and oceans that globally distribute the heat. Students will learn the relationship between the rotation of Earth ... Full description.

One of the strongest observed ENSO events of the century began to unfold in 1997. Fortunately, an extensive network of satellite and ocean buoy instruments was prepared to monitor and record the historical event. In this lesson, students will collect data from the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server to understand how scientists detect the onset of El Nino conditions and the reversal to La Nina conditions ... Full description.

Scientists have recently been reporting that the average temperature of the Earth has been rising, usually referred to as 'global warming'. What is the evidence for this change? One piece of evidence could come from patterns of snow (on land) and ice (either sea ice floating on the oceans or glaciers on land) on the Earth - if the snow and ice are disappearing, it would indicate rising average temperatures. ... Full description.

Students will examine data in several formats in order to determine the presence or absence of seasonal variability in tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations. The dataset used in this lesson is monthly averages of NO2 as measured from NASA's EOS Aura spacecraft. Full description.

There are several factors that influence the climate or prevailing weather conditions for any given location on Earth. The most important factor is the latitude of the location because that affects the amount of solar radiation received throughout the year. Other factors include its distance from a body of water (its moisture source), elevation and local topography. In this 6 to 10 day unit plan, ... Full description.

Back in the days of Christopher Columbus, voyages made across bodies of water were dependent upon winds and currents to drive the sailing ships. Thus good navigation routes were often determined by prevailing weather conditions such as the Trade Winds, and then discovered by explorers. In this lesson, students will explore the wind climatology for the Atlantic Ocean basin (as determined by satellite ... Full description.

In this lesson, students will investigate changes in air quality due to human interaction particularly burning of fossil fuels, and crop burning which increase levels of carbon monoxide. Students will evaluate changes in air quality over a 6 month time frame using Air Quality-Carbon Monoxide Data and draw conclusions based on observing color plot comparison graphs. Full description.

In this lesson,students will play the role of a sailboat captain in The Hamptons, an upscale vacation venue, who must schedule sailing trips to amuse tourists and make money for the company. Using Monthly Wind Speed data from 1995-2005 from MyNASAData website, students will evaluate changes in the monthly wind speed, draw conclusions about how wind speed will effect their company positively or negatively, ... Full description.

This lesson will connect the idea of the tilt and orbit of the earth (changing of seasons) with monthly changes in snow/ice. Students will evaluate changes in the snow/ice cover from January 2008 to June 2008 and compare to the tilt of the Earth and position in orbit (seasonal change) using monthly Snow/Ice Data from January 2008 to June 2008 from MyNASAData website. Full description.

In this lesson,students will evaluate a location in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere to determine the areas best for collecting solar power. Changes in surface radiation will be evaluated using Monthly Surface Radiation data from 2007 from MyNASAData website. Students will draw conclusions about how surface radiation levels will affect choice of solar power plant location selection ... Full description.