Students observe seasonal images of Monthly Leaf Area, looking for any changes that are occurring throughout the year.
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This investigation is part of the NASA: Mission Geography Module "What are the causes and consequences of climate change?" that guides students through explorations in climatic variability and evidence for global climate change.
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.
The fires in Greece during the summer of 2007 devastated large tracks of forest and ground cover in this Mediterranean region. Students analyze these data to determine the scale, area, and percentage of the forest impacted by of these fires.
Examine the images to see the projected differences in land use between 1900 and 2100.
Are you searching for resources to use with your students related to Science and Engineering Practices? Review these graphics that will help to hone students' attention to the specific practices in science and how they relate to investigating, sense-making, and critiquing of data.