Subtopic: Climate

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.

Arctic Climate Perspectives
This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, describes how global climate change is affecting Barrow, Alaska.

Biomes
This interactive resource adapted from NASA describes the different temperature, precipitation, and vegetation patterns in seven biomes: coniferous forest, temperate deciduous forest, desert, grassland, rainforest, shrubland, and tundra.

Changing Arctic Landscape
In this video adapted from the Artic 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.

CO₂ Concentrations at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaiʻi
This resource, adapted from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, provides a graph of monthly average carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration from 1958 to 2000 at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaiʻi.

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's Cryosphere: Antarctica
Learn about the different features of snow and ice in Antarctica using satellite imagery in this video segment adapted from NASA.

Earth System: El Niño
This video segment adapted from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center describes El Niño, how it forms, and the chain reaction of consequences it triggers around the globe.

Exploring Environmental Change
Students explore the connections that can exist in a natural environment, and examine how changes to the environment, particularly those caused by human activity, can affect those connections.

Global Climate Change: The Effects of Global Warming
Students conduct an experiment to determine CO₂ levels in four different gases, examine evidence of global warming in our environment, and consider their own role in contributing to global warming.

Global Trends Quiz
In this interactive quiz from NOVA, take the Environmental Challenge and test your knowledge of human impact on the world's natural resources and climate.

Global Warming: Graphs Tell the Story
Examine graphs from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site to see dramatic changes in the temperature of Earth's surface and in the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2: A Record of Climate Change
Using images and graphs, this interactive resource illustrates scientists' efforts to study Earth's climatic history for the last 250,000 years by drilling into the Greenland Ice Sheet and examining ice cores. Adapted from the Wright Center for Science Education, Tufts University.

How to Build A Road
Geology and weather introduced a variety of unexpected problems when construction crews were building the Alaska Highway. In this interactive activity from the American Experience Web site, see how Army engineers improvised solutions to blaze a trail through the wilderness.

Inuit Observations of Climate Change
In this video adapted from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, an Inuit community collaborates with Western scientists studying climate change. Inuit observations are recorded and included in the data collection process, expanding the scientists' understanding of changes in the area.

Life Before Oxygen
This video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA features evidence of life on Earth before the atmosphere contained a rich supply of oxygen.

Mountain of Ice: If the Ice Melts
This interactive resource adapted from NOVA Online features a collection of images that show what would happen to selected coastlines around the world if the Antarctic Ice Sheet melted.

Mountain Weather: A Climber's Story
In this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA, a mountain climber's perilous journey reveals the extreme range of microclimates on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Observations of Climate Change
In this media-rich activity, students learn how data gathered through surveys with local residents and data collected by remote satellites are complementary tools that help deepen our understanding of the effects of climate change in the Arctic and elsewhere.

Ocean Temperatures and Climate Patterns
This animation from The New Media Studio illustrates how the atmosphere and ocean together shape wind, current, and rainfall patterns in the tropical Pacific.

Snapshot of US Energy Use
This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at American energy consumption and the resulting production of greenhouse gases.

Tracking Polar Bears
In this interactive activity adapted from the USGS Alaska Science Center, track the movements of a polar bear as it migrates across the changing Arctic sea ice and compare the paths of four different polar bears.

The Wall of Time
This illustrated timeline from the Lunar and Planetary Institute provides a journey through four-and-a-half billion years of time from the birth of our solar system to its current existence today.

Your Carbon Diet
In this interactive activity from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site, you can click on various items in a typical New England house to find out how much energy each uses and some ways to reduce energy consumption in your home.