El Nino and La Nina are important temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean. In this lesson, students will create maps and line graphs of data to compare the effects of El Nino and La Nina at two different longitudinal locations, but at the same latitude, using sea surface temperature and precipitation from real satellite data. Full description.

Climate is the long-term weather conditions for a region, generally determined by 30 or more years of records. Climate zones can be defined using parameters such as temperature and rainfall. In this lesson, students will make climatic diagrams called climographs which will relate weather and climate for a particular location. Monthly average values of weather data such as temperature and precipitation ... Full description.

Clouds are a collection of water droplets and small ice crystals that are suspended in an atmosphere. Clouds form when moisture rises, cools, and changes to water or ice. It is important to take into consideration exactly how clouds affect the world around us. Clouds are an important determining factor in climate in any region around the globe. In this lesson, students will plot and analyze data for ... Full description.

Researchers such as paleoclimatologists or dendrochronologists use tree ring analyses as one tool to reconstruct climate information about the past. They will often reference data from other sources such as historical weather records, and ice core or ocean core samples to support their findings. In this lesson students will utilize monthly average precipitation data to strengthen conclusions about ... Full description.

Energy from the sun reaches the Earth and some is absorbed by the air, land, and water. Some of the energy is reflected back into space, meaning it does not heat the land, air, or water. In this lesson students will read a color plot of Earth's absorption of the sun's radiation. They will evaluate causes for difference in absorption rates at different points around the world and draw conclusions about ... Full description.

No study of Maine weather would be complete without analysis of the year of 1816 - the year with no summer in an area from western Pennsylvania and New York, up through Quebec and across to Maine and the Canadian maritimes. In this five-unit lesson, students will investigate the causes and effects of the Fabled Maine Winter by exploring a variety of data sources. They will locate, graph, and analyze ... Full description.

Bar graphs are simple ways to display data. Taking numbers and creating a bar graph makes it easier to read and draw conclusions. In this lesson, students will construct basic bar graphs using authentic NASA surface temperature data from a one year period of record. Full description.

In developing models for climate change and weather prediction, the measurements of surface and near-surface temperature are an important factor in the modeling process. As the Sun heats the Earth's surface, the atmosphere is warmed from below by the processes of conduction and convection from the surface. However, near-surface air temperature (approximately 10 meters above the surface) is often different ... Full description.

There are various local and regional climates on the Earth's surface. While the overall climate of the Earth is often the focus of research and discussion, individual local climates are important to consider when thinking of indigenous plants and animals. In this lesson, students will choose two locations, preferably in different climate zones, and compare real NASA satellite data for those two locations. ... Full description.

In this lesson, students will use NASA satellite measurements of atmospheric pressure to learn that pressure decreases with height in the atmosphere. Full description.