20-Year Map of Global Rainfall

This visualization from NASA shows global rainfall patterns over a 22-year span. It incorporates data from a combination of remote-sensing and ground-based sources.

Antarctica: Sea Ice

This video segment adapted from NOVA uses microwave images to reveal how sea ice doubles the size of Antarctica each winter. Rare footage shows how sea ice crushed the famous ship Endurance in 1914.

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Antarctic Ice Movement: Part I

This video segment adapted from NOVA explains why ice sheets move. To find out how fast they move, scientists carve a tunnel through a glacier.

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Antarctic Ice Movement: Part II

Within Antarctic ice sheets are fast-moving streams of ice. This video segment adapted from NOVA hypothesizes about how ice streams are the result of warming at the end of the last ice age.

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Antarctic Ice: Sea Level Change

What would happen if a portion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt? This video segment adapted from NOVA uses animations to show the effect of a 6-meter sea-level rise on coastal cities across the world.

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Arctic Atlas

In this interactive atlas adapted from UNEP/GRID-Arendal, explore different environmental features of the Arctic. Select from a list of themes to customize your map, then zoom in to take a closer look at one of six featured regions.

Arctic Sea Ice Satellite Observations

In this interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain, learn how Arctic sea ice has changed over the past 25 years in terms of maximum winter extent, concentration, and the timing of breakup each spring.

Atrazine Affects the Water Supply

In this video segment featuring live-action animation, adapted from Big River: A King Corn Companion, see how the agricultural pesticide atrazine impacts both crops and human health.

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Cave Formation: Biogeochemical Cycles

This video segment adapted from NOVA chronicles the discoveries that led to a radical new theory in which living organisms, not just geological processes, play an active role in cave formation.

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Changing Arctic Landscape

In this video adapted from the Arctic Athabaskan Council, learn how warmer temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the landscape, triggering a host of effects such as permafrost thawing and insect infestations.

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Chicken Waste and Water Pollution

In this video segment adapted from FRONTLINE: “Poisoned Waters,” learn how unregulated waste from large-scale chicken farms contributes to water pollution.

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Climate Change

This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the difference between weather and climate and features groundbreaking analysis revealing that Earth's climate has changed much faster than previously believed.

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Compare the Poles

Explore the defining features of the Arctic and the Antarctic in this interactive activity adapted from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Conserving Water at Home

This video segment adapted from Last Oasis highlights the impact of a variety of water conservation efforts including installing low-flow toilets and planting grass that does not require a lot of water.

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Contaminating the Rockies

Learn how abandoned mines have been contaminating water supplies in the Rocky Mountains for decades in this video segment adapted from NOVA: "Poison in the Rockies."

The Disappearing Aral Sea

This visualization adapted from NASA features satellite images showing how more than 60 percent of the Aral Sea has disappeared during the last 30 years.

Discovering Antarctica

Take a guided tour of Antarctica by watching brief video segments of its landscape and wildlife in this interactive activity adapted from the British Antarctic Survey.

Documenting Glacial Change

This collection of comparative glacier images adapted from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows substantial changes in five Alaskan glacier positions over periods of 60 to 100 years.

Earth as a System

This visualization adapted from NASA maps progressive global changes onto a rotating globe. Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere are shown to be dynamic and interconnected.

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Earth’s Albedo and Global Warming

In this interactive activity adapted from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, learn about Earth's albedo (the ratio of reflected vs. incident solar radiation), how pollution alters albedo, and how ice-albedo feedback may accelerate global warming.