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

Students identify patterns and describe the relationship between chlorophyll concentration and incoming shortwave radiation. 

Students will investigate the role of clouds and their contribution (if any) to global warming. Working in cooperative groups, students will make a claim about the future role clouds will play in Earth’s Energy Budget if temperatures continue to increase.

Students differentiate between data sets of monthly shortwave radiation and monthly cloud coverage to discover a relationship between radiation and clouds by answering analysis questions.

Students will watch and examine a NASA animation of Earth’s rising surface temperatures over an almost 150 year period.

My NASA Data has recently released several new resources, StoryMaps, for use in educational settings.

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.

Ricky is a Software Engineer who works for the NASA Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Project with the group that specializes in clouds.  He develops software to ensure that the satellite data collected about clouds are accurate and accessible. 

Image Credit: NASA

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