Students will examine a 2014-2015 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event to identify relationships among sea surface height, sea surface temperature, precipitation, and wind vectors.

Explore a variety of NASA resources.

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

Explore and connect to the GLOBE ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) protocol bundle. 

Explore the biosphere and why it is important.

What is the atmosphere and why is it important?

Students move through a series of short activities to explore and evaluate global solar radiation data from NASA satellites.  In this process, students make qualitative and quantitative observations about seasonal variations in net energy input to the Earth System.

Background information on the El Nino Southern Oscillation or ENSO.

Our Earth is a dynamic system with diverse subsystems that interact in complex ways. Questions that scientists have about the Earth as a System may include the following. As you learn more about the Earth System, reflect on these questions. 

Students will analyze surface temperature and solar radiation data to construct explanations about the relationship of seasons and temperature to the amount of solar energy received on Earth’s surface.