Earth and Space Science: Meteorology

Antarctica: A Challenging Work Day
What happens when the ground under your feet is ice and it's moving? This video segment adapted from NOVA features some of the dangers faced by scientists conducting research in Antarctica.

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.

Atmospheric Pressure
Did you know that air has weight? This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site explores conditions that affect air density and atmospheric pressure.

Becoming a Fossil
This video segment describes how the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy could have been fossilized. Footage courtesy of NOVA: "In Search of Human Origins."

Booming Sands
This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, presents basic concepts of physics behind "booming" sand dunes. See how surface tension affects potential and kinetic energy and how it all works together to create sound.

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.

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.

Eclipse of the Century
This video segment adapted from NOVA features spectacular footage from the 1991 solar eclipse that fortuitously occurred directly over several major astronomical observatories in Hawaiʻi.

Fastest Glacier
In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, scientists in western Greenland explain how a glacier there is shrinking and moving faster due to increased melting.

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

Global Warming: The Physics of the Greenhouse Effect
This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE examines the greenhouse effect, its role in keeping Earth habitable, and the industrial changes that have led to an increase in the planet's average temperature.

The Grand Canyon: Conservation and Development
This video segment adapted from NOVA explores the effects of the Glen Canyon Dam on the beaches, wildlife, and vegetation of the Colorado River.

The Grand Canyon: How It Formed
This video segment adapted from NOVA uses animation to present the theory of how the Grand Canyon was formed and features rare footage of a phenomenon known as debris flow.

The Great Flood of 1993
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a meteorologist explains how an unusual weather pattern led to one of the most devastating floods of this century.

How Did Life Emerge Here?
This video segment adapted from NOVA describes the emergence of life on the islands of Hawaiʻi from a barren volcanic platform under the ocean waves to the rich explosion of life that covers the many climate zones of the islands today.

How Do Tornadoes Form?
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists use computer simulations to explore the question of how supercell thunderstorms produce tornadoes.

Hurricanes: New Tools for Predicting
This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW features new advances in predicting the intensity of hurricanes.

Imaging with Radar
This interactive activity from NOVA features synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which uses radio waves to create high-quality images. Examine SAR images of Washington, D.C., and learn about this technology's unique advantages.

Laetoli Footprints
This Evolution video segment describes how the famous track fossils known as the Laetoli footprints might have been formed and what they can reveal about the creatures who left them.

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.

Lightning Hunters
Find out how scientists and engineers use rockets to attract lightning in this video segment adapted from NOVA.

Migration of the Monarch
This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores the migratorial exploits of monarch butterflies.

Organic Farming: Conserving Top Soil
Against the backdrop of the devastating 1930's Dust Bowl, this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA profiles an organic farmer and the techniques he uses to conserve topsoil.

Shipwrecks Reveal Ocean Currents
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a detailed map showing the trajectories of abandoned ships from the late 1800's is used to reveal the routes of surface currents in the Atlantic Ocean. Animations illustrate the role played by ocean currents in the colonization of North America.

Solar Paint Your Roof
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, see how nanotechnology might be used to create a new, cheaper way to produce solar electricity for the home.

Stories in the Ice
Take a journey back through time, on the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site, using ice cores to learn about Earth's climatic history, including evidence of global warming and nuclear activity.

Taking the Earth's Temperature
This video segment from FRONTLINE/NOVA: "What's Up with the Weather?" depicts research efforts to record Earth's past and present temperatures shifts.

What Causes the Gulf Stream?
This video segment adapted from NOVA visualizes how Earth's rotation and uneven heating from the Sun cause prevailing winds and influence ocean surface currents. An animation and infrared satellite image illustrate the shape and direction of the Gulf Stream System in the Atlantic Ocean.