Compiled by Monica Bruckner at SERC.
NASA Ice Albedo Movie ( This site may be offline. ) With an albedo of up to 80 percent or more, snow-covered terrain reflects most of the earth's incoming solar radiation back into space, cooling the lower atmosphere. When snow cover melts, the albedo drops suddenly to less than about 30 percent, allowing the ground to absorb more solar radiation, heating the earth's surface and lower atmosphere. This short animation demonstrates the effect of melting ice on albedo.
NASA Cloud Albedo Animation ( This site may be offline. ) Clouds greatly affect the Earth's solar energy balance. This animation shows how they deflect a portion of solar energy influx from reaching our planet's surface and how they insulate to prevent a total loss of thermal radiance out into space.
Vegetation & Net Radiation ( This site may be offline. ) 
Global Climate Animations ( This site may be offline. ) Flash animations and animated .gif files that show the climatology of the seasonal cycle for the time period 1959-1997 for variables including the global energy balance, global water balance, atmospheric circulation and winds, and global temperature.
Air Temperature ( This site may be offline. ) Seasonal temperature variations can be explained in terms of the latitudinal and seasonal variations in the surface energy balance. The pattern of temperatures is a function of net short-wave radiation, net long-wave radiation, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and change in heat storage. Note that the highest temperatures occur not at the equator landmasses, where it is often cloudy, but at 20 degrees north and south of the equator along zones of semi-permanent high pressure zones where skies are generally clear. The animation can be paused and rewound to emphasize important points.
Latent Heat Flux ( This site may be offline. ) This animation is available in an animated GIF or Flash formats and shows monthly variations in energy in the form of latent heat. This animation shows the energy absorbed due to evaporation. Interesting patterns to observe are higher values over the Gulf Stream and lower values in upwelling areas, like off the coasts of Labrador and Peru. In the Flash format, the animation can easily be rewound or paused to stress important points.
