In this mini-lesson, students analyze soil moisture quantities associated with Hurricane Harvey around Houston, Texas on August 25, 2017.

Explore using units in calculations with the Leaf Area Index (LAI). LAI is a ratio that describes the number of square meters of leaves per square meter of available land surface. Because of the units in the ratio, it is dimensionless.

Explore using units for calculations with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). NDVI is a ratio of different light wavelength reflectance which can be used to map the density of green vegetation.

Students will review the NASA Space Place video, "Tectonic Forces", and answer questions about tectonic plates.

Students analyze Landsat images of Atlanta, Georgia to explore the relationship between surface temperature and vegetation.

Review this page to learn about the background of volcanoes and their eruptions.

Students examine satellite images of an island before and after a volcanic eruption to determine the impact of the eruption.

Students analyze two North Pole orthographic data visualizations produced from soil moisture data. After describing trends in the seasonal thaw of land surfaces, students demonstrate their understanding of Earth’s energy budget by explaining relationships and make predictions about the dataset.

This graphic organizer may be used to help students analyze the processes and components of Earth System phenomena.