NASA
El Nino: Making Sense of the Weather: Global Wind Patterns
This is an educational site offered by NASA that has information on global winds, including prevailing westerlies, with illustrations. Included is a short activity to illustrate the winds.
Curated OER
Global Wind Pattern on the Earth Without an Ocean, Axiz Tilt, and Rotation.
Global wind pattern on the earth without an ocean, axiz tilt, and rotation.
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.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Lab 5: It's All Connected: Global Circulation
An investigation that is part of a series of lab lessons that expose students to Earth Systems through research, data, and visualizations. During this lab, students will focus on the pathways of wind and water to and from their location...
Other
Kites as Education: Wind Origins
This "kite science" site offers information on wind and the atmospheric conditions that cause it. From "Principles of Aeronautics."
Weather Wiz Kids
Weather Wiz Kids: Wind
Wind is air in motion. It is produced by the uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun. Since the earth's surface is made of various land and water formations, it absorbs the sun's radiation unevenly. Two factors are necessary to...
NASA
Nasa: El Nino
A concise explanation of El Nino. Discusses global wind patterns and ocean temperatures. Offers interactive weather-related learning activities.
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...
Center for Educational Technologies
Exploring the Environment El Nino: The Child Returns
Use remote sensing data and background information to look at regional and global consequences of El Nino. Try working with the 'situation' to test your understanding.
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: Water Vapor Circulation on Earth
This simulation from the National Center for Atmospheric Research portrays annual patterns in water vapor and precipitation across the globe, illustrating general circulation patterns as well as seasonal and regional variation. [4:52]
NOAA
Noaa: Global Monsoons
This interactive world map allows you to view factors associated with monsoons. Monsoon data displayed includes factors such as precipitation, wind speed, soil moisture, and ocean temperatures. Links to monsoons associated with specific...
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All: Atmosphere | Nasa Online
The Earth is surrounded by a thin envelope of gases called the atmosphere. More than 500 active volcanoes erupt around the world affecting the Earth's atmosphere and global climate.
University of Calgary
European Voyages of Exploration: 15th & 16th Centuries
This award-winning website from the University of Calgary's History Department is both impressive and extensive. It focuses on Portuguese and Spanish expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries (the sitemap provides a good outline of...
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.
National Weather Service
National Weather Service: Jet Stream: The Jet Stream
The concept of jet streams is explained on this site. Read about why jet stream winds blow from west to east, what the polar jet and subtropical jet are, the role that the rotation of the Earth plays, etc.