The activities in this guide will help students understand variations in environmental parameters by examining connections among different phenomena measured on local, regional and global scales.
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This graphic organizer may be used to help students analyze the processes and components of Earth System phenomena.
Check out the Arctic and Earth SIGNs video to explore how climate models are used in climate change research.
Students review Earth System phenomena that are affected by soil moisture. They analyze and evaluate maps of seasonal global surface air temperature and soil moisture data from NASA satellites. Building from their observations, students will select a location in the U.S.
Arctic sea ice is the cap of frozen seawater blanketing most of the Arctic Ocean and neighboring seas in wintertime. It follows seasonal patterns of thickening and melting. Students view how the quantity has changed from 1979 through 2018.
Students explore positive feedback effects of changing albedo from melting Arctic sea ice.
Students develop and test a hypothesis about how albedo affects temperature.
Students analyze map visualizations representing the amount of Sunās energy received on the Earth as indicated by the amount that is reflected back to space, known as āalbedoā.
Students are introduced to the Earthrise phenomenon by seeing the Earth as the Apollo 8 astronauts viewed our home planet for the first time from the Moon. They will analyze a time series of mapped plots of Earth science variables that NASA monitors to better understand the Earth
Students move through a series of short activities to explore and evaluate global solar radiation data from NASA satellites. In this process, students make qualitative and quantitative observations about seasonal variations in net energy input to the Earth System.