This lesson contains a card sort activity that challenges students to predict relative albedo values of common surfaces.
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Examine (daytime) surface temperature and solar radiation received at locations found near similar latitudes using NASA Data.
Students will analyze and interpret maps of the average net atmospheric radiation to compare the flow of energy from the Sun toward Earth in different months and for cloudy versus clear days. Students will draw conclusions and support them with evidence.
Students will investigate the role of clouds and their contribution (if any) to global warming. Working in cooperative groups, students will make a claim about the future role clouds will play in Earth’s Energy Budget if temperatures continue to increase.
This lesson walks students through the use of Landsat false-color imagery and identification of different land cover features using these as models.
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.