This StoryMap allows students to explore the formation and impacts of ash and aerosols from volcanic eruptions around the world in a 5 E-learning cycle. They will investigate how ash and aerosols produced from volcanic eruptions are hazardous to the human ecosystem, and will analyze concentrations of aerosols from a volcanic eruption over time. 

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.

Compare images from two volcanic eruptions in the Kuril Islands which occurred ten years apart and complete a graphic organizer for impacts on different Earth spheres. 

Watch NASA videos about aerosols and volcanic ash.

Students examine satellite images of a recently formed island to identify areas of erosion and deposition.

Learn about volcanic ash and watch a visualization of the Calbuco volcano to see how ash travels around the world. 

A geotechnical engineer is a type of civil engineer who focuses on the mechanics of the land, rocks, and soils in the building process. This type of engineering includes, but is not limited to, analyzing, designing, and constructing foundations, retaining structures, slopes, embankments, roadways, tunnels, levees, wharves, landfills, and other systems that are comprised of rock or soil.

Civil engineers design, develop, and construct community projects that serve the general public such as roads, bridges, damns, tunnels, water supply systems, etc. The designs include but are not limited to many fields such as hydraulics, thermodynamics, or nuclear physics.

Soil Conservation Technicians collect and manage survey data for conservation, develop a plan to implement conservation actions, and supervise fieldwork.  Their work starts with developing physical resource plans and documents on the history of the land. Technicians survey, layout, and section off the site.  They assist the landowner in selecting, installing, and maintaining a variety of measures that conserve and improve the soil, plant, water, marsh, wildlife and recreational resources of the land.

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Air Quality protocol bundle.