Ocean Planet's six lesson plans are adapted from several themes in the Smithsonian Institution exhibition created to share with the public what recent research has revealed about the oceans and to encourage ocean conservation. "Sea Secrets" explores ocean geography; "Sea Connections" looks at the plants and animals that live in different marine ecosystems. "Ocean Market" identifies and values many ... Full description.

The PALEOMAP Project illustrates the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years. The reconstruction of paleoclimates is also discussed. Maps are viewed as animations where the time component can be user-manipulated. Included are a variety of background materials which supplement the animations. ... Full description.

Our atmosphere is warmed by shortwave radiation received from the Sun. Some of the energy is reflected back to space depending on cloud cover and the surface characteristics of Earth. Some of the energy is absorbed by the surface, then re-emitted back to space as longwave radiation. As this occurs, clouds and atmospheric gases can reflect, absorb and re-emit this energy -- the so-called greenhouse ... Full description.

Water is one of Earth's most unique and valuable resources. Thus, the distribution of water on Earth is a very important factor in the evaluation of global climate and its impact on life. In this lesson, students will use historical satellite data to examine precipitable water -- a measure of the water available in the atmosphere from evaporation (in the form of water vapor). They will then compare ... Full description.

The atmosphere is a mixture of gases including nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other trace gases. Additionally, the atmosphere contains small, suspended liquid and particle matter called aerosols. Aerosols come from various sources, both natural and anthropogenic (man-made). Aerosols are important to study and monitor because they have direct and indirect effects on regional weather and global ... Full description.

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.