Students interpret a graph of surface temperatures taken from city districts and other types of communities.

Exploring salinity patterns is a great way to better understand the relationships between the water cycle, ocean circulation, and climate. In this mini lesson, students analyze sea surface salinity mapped plots created from the Earth System Data Explorer, paired with questions (and answers) from the Aquarius Mission. Credit: Aquarius Education

This mini lesson engages students by watching a NASA video related to seasonal chlorophyll concentration as it relates to net radiation using NASA's Aqua satellite. Students will examine the model and answer the questions.

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. 

Students interpret a double bar/column chart comparing the number of tropical cyclones in different locations.

Students watch a video explaining albedo and its impact on Earth. The video shows visualizations of albedo across Earth and how it can change. Students will interpret the images in the video and answer questions about albedo.

Students observe seasonal images of Monthly Leaf Area, looking for any changes that are occurring throughout the year.

Students explore the spatial patterns observed in meteorological data and learn how this information is used to predict weather and understand climate behavior.

Students examine the two time series images to determine the differences between seasonal ice melt over water versus land.

This NASA visualization shows sea surface salinity observations (September 2011-September 2014). Students review the video and answer questions.