Students will review the sources of the six criteria pollutants for which the EPA has established standards for and describe their impacts on human health and the environment. 

Students will analyze how air pollution may be transported over time. Students will also differentiate between sources of air pollution and describe how air pollution interacts with the Earth System. 

Students watch videos and/or review articles related to particulate matter and how this pollutant is monitored and measured, then provide their understanding individually or in groups.

Watch NASA videos about aerosols and volcanic ash.

Students review a video that models the global impact of smoke from fires to develop an understanding of how models can be used to interpret and forecast phenomena in the Earth System. 

 Air, Water, Land, & Life: A Global Perspective

Use the Earth System Data Explorer to analyze data and make a claim about which 2018 eruption was larger, Kilauea, HI or Ambae Island, Vanuatu.

Students will describe the changes in a newly-formed volcanic island over the first three years of its life.  

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

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