Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Hhmi: Bio Interactive: Paleoclimate: A History of Change
Learn about the history of Earth's climate in this Click and Learn. Learn how many factor control Earth's climate. Specifically, examine two of the most important factors: solar radiation and the composition of Earth's atmosphere.
BioEd Online
Bio Ed Online: Earth's Energy Sources (Pre Assessment)
A pre-assessment at the beginning of a unit on global atmospheric change. It checks understanding of issues around climate change and the impact it has on the environment and on human health. The lesson and accompanying slideshow can...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: A Guide to the Energy of the Earth
Energy is neither created nor destroyed - and yet the global demand for it continues to increase. But where does energy come from, and where does it go? This video examines the many ways in which energy cycles through our planet, from...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: Courses: Civil Environmental: Ecology I: The Earth System
College-level online course highlighting the fundamentals of ecology. Course topics include coevolution of the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere; photosynthesis and respiration; and the carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles....
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Tracking Geomagnetic Storms in the Ionosphere
The Sun is the ultimate source of the energy that powers weather systems on Earth. Geomagnetic storms are sun-powered storms in the upper atmosphere, arising from energized particles that are periodically ejected by the Sun. Among other...
King's Centre for Visualization in Science
Explaining Climate Change: Lesson 4: Climate: A Balancing Act
How does the Earth's energy balance regulate climate? This is the fourth lesson in a series of learning modules on the topic of climate change. This lesson explores how different factors can impact the amount of energy that enters and...
Carnegie Mellon University
Telstar: The Sun and Its Energy
The sun's energy is the primary source of energy for all surface phenomena and life on Earth. Combined with the material of the Earth (including the molecules held close by the Earth's gravitational force called the atmosphere), this...
Carnegie Mellon University
The Sun and Its Energy
The sun's energy is the primary source of energy for all surface phenomena and life on Earth. Combined with the material of the Earth (including the molecules held close by the Earth's gravitational force called the atmosphere), this...
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Global Climate Change: Atmosphere
Use this site to explore real scientific data relating to the atmosphere. With this information you can gather evidence, test theories, and come to conclusions. Click on the data examples to view a full scale version.
Other
Digital Library for Earth System Education: Teaching Box: Essentials of Weather
A suite of lessons focusing on the basic elements of climate and weather. Inquiry-based exploration of extreme weather events and the factors of weather including clouds, wind, air pressure, temperature, and the water cycle.
Open Curriculum
Open Curriculum: Into the Mitochondrion: Making Atp With Oxygen
The aim of this article is to relate the history of oxygen in the atmosphere to the evolution of photosynthesis, aerobic respiration, mitochondria, and life on earth.
Cosmo Learning
Cosmo Learning: The Atmosphere, the Ocean, and Environmental Change
A collection of video lectures from a course that explores the physical processes the control Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and climate that is taught at Yale University. The course covers topics like clouds, rain, severe storms, regional...
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Earth Science: Effect of Atmospheric Circulation on Climate
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Looks at how atmospheric circulation cells affect the climate of regions.
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climatological Survey: Overview of Radiation
This site details what radiation is, the physics of radiation, and radiative transfer as it occurs in nature. Content explores the electromagnetic spectrum, electromagnetic waves, properties of radiation, and solar radiation.
Other
Conservation Corps Newfoundland and Labrador: Climate Change Club
Join the fun at the Climate Change Club where you can find out ways to take action at home, in school, and in your community. Keep up with the latest news in climate science, and link to fact sheets and other fun sites that care about...
NASA
Nasa Earth Observatory: Clouds in a Clear Sky
This article introduces the different layers of the atmosphere and the clouds that are formed there. Scientists use instruments such as the SAGE 11 that help to measure amounts of sunlight, water vapor, and other conditions that affect...
NOAA
Noaa: Weather Systems and Patterns
Imagine our weather if Earth were completely motionless, had a flat dry landscape and an un-tilted axis. This, of course, is not the case; if it were, the weather would be much different. The local weather that impacts our daily lives...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Global Weather Machine
In this illustrated essay from NOVA Online, explore the cyclical process of weather creation and the effects of El Nino on the global weather system.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Above the Clouds: Telescopes on Mauna Kea
This video segment adapted from First Light explains why the highest peak in the Pacific, Mauna Kea, is an ideal site for astronomical observations. Featured are new telescope technologies that allow astronomers to explore the universe...
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Greenhouse Gases
Do you understand the relationship between temperature and carbon dioxide in our atmosphere? This computer model shows factors such as clouds and carbon dioxide that could cause global temperatures to rise. Students investigate how the...
Idaho State University
Global Wind Systems [Pdf]
A great description of the global scale circulation and heat energy. Discusses a single-cell model, a three-cell model, jet streams and more.
NASA
Nasa: Weather
Though we live on the surface of the Earth, we actually live at the bottom of an ocean of air. Dynamic layers of air interact with the Earth's surface and the Sun's energy to produce the phenomenon of weather. The atmosphere is...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Observatory Satellite Measures Motion of Coronal Mass Ejection
The sun sometimes releases huge bursts of electrified gases into space. These bursts are called coronal mass ejections (or CMEs). When CMEs are directed towards Earth they can generate auroras, the spectacular atmospheric displays also...
Other
Few: Human Impact on the Environment & Environmental Impact on Humans
Human beings have an enormous impact on the natural environment, and ultimately on each other. The way we chose to house, clothe, shelter, and meet the needs for vital resources such as food, energy, and water, not only affect the...