Students collect and analyze temperature data to explore what governs how much energy is reflected. 

Students will analyze a graph showing the amounts of peak energy received at local noon each day over the year changes with different latitudes. 

NASA visualizers take data – numbers, codes – and turn them into animations people can see and quickly understand.

What is the atmosphere and why is it important?

Students will practice the process of making claims, collecting evidence to support claims, and applying scientific reasoning to connect evidence to claims.

This lesson is taken from NASA's Phytopia: Discovery of the Marine Ecosystem written in partnership with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science with funding from the National Science Foundation.

GLOBE protocols and learning activities that complement exploration of Earth's Energy Budget are outlined.

Explore and connect to GLOBE protocol bundles. Each bundle has related Earth System Data Explorer datasets identified.

Dr. Norman Loeb, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is the principal investigator for an experiment called the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES). CERES instruments measure how much of the sun’s energy is reflected back to space and how much thermal energy is emitted by Earth to space.

GLOBE protocols and learning activities that complement exploration of the Flow of Energy and Matter are outlined.