Students analyze historic plant growth data (i.e., Peak Bloom dates) of Washington, D.C.’s famous cherry blossom trees, as well as atmospheric near surface temperatures as evidence for explaining the phenomena of earlier Peak Blooms in our nation’s capital.

Science educators strive to engage students in authentic investigations that have students analyze data in order to derive meaning.  MND provides unlimited opportunities to engage students in data analysis using Earth System data. 

Explore using units for calculations with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). NDVI is a ratio of different light wavelength reflectance which can be used to map the density of green vegetation.

Find GLOBE resources which are connected to My NASA Data cryosphere phenomena. These include campaigns, eTraining and how to find related student projects.

Use the Data Literacy Cube to guide students’ exploration of mapped data of the Earth System to enrich their observations and inferences.  This is a flexible resource that may be used with a variety of mapped images.  This activity requires a map of Earth data for students to evalu

Background information on the El Nino Southern Oscillation or ENSO.

Students evaluate graphs and images of sea ice and relate them to changes in albedo. Students make a claim about the interaction of albedo and sea ice extent.

Michelle Gierach has a passion for Earth Science. She serves as a project scientist for the Physical Oceanography Distributed Data Archive Center (PO.DAAC) and ocean scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

This resource helps to identify and access GLOBE protocols and hands-on learning activities that complement the Sea and Land Ice Melt phenomenon.

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