Students analyze the data and details of a complicated graph by identifying components and data patterns.

This content has been moved. You can find it under Exploring Sky Color and Visibility (Interactive Models).

Air quality is a measure of the pollution level in the air. Polluted air can be caused by many things. There are manmade and natural sources of emissions. 

The Great Smoky Mountains have a unique climate and weather pattern. Students will review a Landsat image and read about the history of the area and why Native Americans called the area “Shaconage.” Then they will answer the questions about what caused the unusual “blue smoke.”

In this lesson, students will explore the effect of aerosols on sky color and visibility by using an interactive virtual model. 

In this lesson, students will explore the effect of aerosols on sky color and visibility by using an interactive virtual model. 

Explore and connect to the GLOBE Weather protocol bundle. 

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.

This mini lesson engages students in watching a NASA video related to accumulated dust that makes the trans-Atlantic journey from the Sahara Desert to the Amazon rainforest using NASA's CALIPSO satellite. Students will examine a model and answer questions related to dust transport and the introduction of phosphorus to the soils of the Amazon.