Watch NASA videos about aerosols and volcanic ash.

In this lesson, students will explore the effect of aerosols on sky color and visibility by using an interactive virtual model. 

These six graphs show Ocean Chlorophyll Concentrations from 1998 - 2018 in a variety of locations: East Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, California Coast, Southeastern US/Gulf of Mexico, Northeastern US and the Scotian Shelf, and the Hawaiian Islands.

In this lesson, students will explore the effect of aerosols on sky color and visibility by using an interactive virtual model. 

Students use albedo values of common surfaces along with photographic images of Earth taken from the International Space Station to make an argument about specific anthropogenic activities that impact Earth’s albedo.

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.

This lesson contains a card sort activity that challenges students to predict relative albedo values of common surfaces.