Resources

Week 1: From the Outside Looking In—Changing Our Perspective of Earth

• NASA's Earth Observatory Image of the Day is a great place to find interesting (and current) images, stories, and discoveries about climate and the environment that emerge from NASA research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and climate models. You can browse images by date or topic. Click on individual images for details and related stories.
• Need more ideas about how NASA data might fit into your classroom? Check out these NASA Featured Research Articles that describe, in story format, uses of Earth observing data.

Week 2: Analyzing Change Over Time

• To learn more about using ImageJ, refer to the ImageJ Documentation pages.
• Here is the NASA Earth Observatory article where the Lake Mead image came from.
• NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day - Lake Mead in Drought.
• NASA/Goddard News Story about Lake Mead.
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography news report about Lake Mead.
• Bureau of Reclamation Hoover Dam FAQs.
• Bureau of Reclamation Lake Mead FAQs.
• Bureau of Reclamation Historical Image Library.
• Bureau of Reclamation Lake Mead elevation data.
• Auto-updating graph of lake elevation data.
• Current U.S. Drought Monitor Report from the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
• For a more detailed investigation of drought, see the Earthlabs Drought Unit.
• Learn more about working with non-destructive overlays in ImageJ.
• Practice your skills with the Earth Exploration Toolbook investigation Annotating Change in Satellite Images.
• Download and explore more spatially calibrated images from the MODIS Image Gallery.
• Reinforce your understanding of scale and measurement with the Earth Exploration Toolbook investigation Measuring Distance and Area in Satellite Images.
• Image pairs from Earth Observatory
• Earth Observatory: World of Change: time series of images that demonstrate change over time.

Week 3: Eyes on the Ice

• Refer to the ImageJ documentation on stacks.
• Learn more about satellite remote sensing.
• Listen to Dr. Parkinson's podcast about uses for the Aqua satellite data.
• Read more about Dr. Parkinson's work on polar bears.
• Read a project Aqua biography about Dr. Claire Parkinson.
• Learn more about NASA's Aqua mission.
• View a video primer on Arctic sea ice by NASA Climate Scientist TomWagner, Arctic Sea Ice 101.
• Read All About Sea Ice from the National Snow And Ice Data Center
• Watch a NASA/GSFC animation of Arctic Monthly Average sea ice from 1979 to 2002.
• Read the NASA Earth Observatory article about Arctic sea ice minimum and maximum extents.
• Go to Whither Arctic Sea Ice, the Earth Exploration Toolbook investigation on which this activity was based.
• For more background on Dr. Claire Parkinson's research, see Claire's research.
• For more about the polar bear population situation, read the report: Are polar bear populations increasing?
• For more curriculum about Earth's cryosphere, look at EarthLabs Cryosphere Module.

Week 4: Using Satellite Data to Study the Ocean

• Click here for a full list of Giovanni's capabilities.
• Search The Giovanni-NEO Instructional Cookbook for step-by-step instructions showing how to use Giovanni and NEO to look at Earth's various regions and the atmospheric, oceanic, and land surface processes which affect them.
• SeaWiFS
• Orbview-2 satellite
• MODIS
• Aqua
• Giovanni User's Manual
• Help with Giovanni functions
• SeaWiFS information
• MODIS-Aqua and MODIS-Terra

Week 5: Monitoring Invasive Species

• Instructional Materials for AEJEE
• Getting started with GIS
• Download documentation for AEJEE
• Geospatial Technology Curriculum Page
• Instructional Materials for ArcGIS
• Zebra and Quagga Mussel background
• USDA National Invasive Species Information Center
• USDA Resource Library Database
• National Atlas of the United States - has all kinds of shapefiles and information
• Global Invasive Species database
• GIS aids in response to CA lake threatened by Pike
• Tamarix Information from the Desert Museum of Arizona (http://www.desertmuseum.org)
• Tamarix Invasion White Sands National Monument
• The Worst Weeds - database from Nature Conservancy
• More information about Invasives (http://www.desertmuseum.org)
• Illustrated Guide to Arizona Weeds
• How to Prevent the Spread of Noxious Weeds
• GIS aids in response to CA lake threatened by Pike
• iMap Invasives - online mapping of invasives

Week 6: Following Rivers Through Time

• NASA study on Louisiana subsidence: Sensing the Swamp Beneath the Trees
• Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)
• RADARSAT-1
• NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day: Mississippi Meanders
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: LIDAR - In the Wake of the Storm
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: Weighing Earth's Water from Space
• The Times-Picayune article: Last Chance
• Last Chance Series of Articles: Part 1 - Coastal Erosion
• Last Chance Series of Articles: Part 2 - Losing Ground
• Last Chance Series of Articles: Part 3 - Laying the Groundwork
• Animation of River Meanders forming: Meander and Floodplain Animation
• COSEE: Central Gulf of Mexico educational resource site COSEE Resource Site
• Louisiana Costal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force: LaCoast - Excellent source of satellite images, maps and animations
• TERRA Image of Mississippi Meanders TERRA satellite image of Mississippi Meanders

Week 7: Investigating Earthquake Activity

• John Snow site at UCLA
• John Snow: The London Cholera Epidemic of 1854
• Cholera AEJEE and ArcGIS activity in the Diseases section of these lessons from JMU
• Transcript from Live Web Chat: Earthquakes - How, Where and Why? with Margaret Glasscoe
• QuakeSim Project Website
• DESDynI (Deformation, Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics of Ice) Project Website
• USGS Earthquakes
• Earthquake data
• Solid earth working group home page
• NASA earthquake research
• Discovery Channel Worldviewer
• Flash Animations to Use in Class
• NY Times Interactive, before and after: Haiti
• IRIS educational resources, great animations
• Great site for images of volcanoes
• Mineral Sciences Homepage
• SERC teaching GeoSciences Resources

Week 8: Monitoring Fires

• Aspen Fire, Arizona: Image of the Day at NASA's Earth Observatory
• Aspen and Helen 2 Fires, Tucson, Arizona: Image of the Day at NASA's Earth Observatory
• Visible Earth: Fires in Arizona and New Mexico in NASA's Visible Earth collection
• Fires in Arizona and New Mexico at NASA's Earth Observatory
• Arizona and New Mexico Fire Images at NASA's Earth Observatory
• Dr. Steve Chien
• NASA Satellites Eye Forest Fires
• Aqua Project Science
• Terra the EOS flagship
• MODIS Rapid Response System
• Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE)
• Earth Observing-1
• 60 Minutes Program "Age of Megafires" viewable online. Shows the results of the Aspen Fire Age of Megafires
• Wildland Fire Graphics and information from CBS News Wildland Fire
• Bruce Coffland Presentation: Multispectral Scanners for Wildland Fire Assessment (Acrobat (PDF) 4.5MB Mar30 10)
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: NASA Demonstrates New Technology for Monitoring Fires from Space
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: Fire Alarms from Orbit
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: Burn Recovery in Yellowstone
• NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day: Yellowstone Recovers from 1988 Fires
• Read more about this NASA partnership at NASA Satellites Eye Forest Fires
• Read more about NASA's role in the management of the 1988 fires, summarized from Yellowstone Science web pages and The Fires of '88 by Ross W. Simpson.
• View an animation of the fire progression from NASA.
• To learn more read the articles about the Arnica fire from September 24th and October 12th, 2009 listed below:
• NASA Earth Observatory Story: Arnica Fire
• NASA Earth Observatory Story: Arnica Fire Oct
• Wildland Fire in Yellowstone on the web.
• View pictures of the major facilities at Yellowstone National Park during the fire. Included are the features: Grant Village Campground, Madison Junction, Old Faithful Lodge and the East and North Entrances.Pictures of 1988 fires in PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 5.1MB Apr2 10)

Week 9: Googling Around

• Navigating in Google Earth
• Google Earth User Guide
• Dr. Leroy Chiao, PhD Astronaut: includes biographical information, image gallery, video clips, and more
• Expedition 10 Earth Observation Photos
• Theme Magazine interview with Leroy Chiao
• Shooting for the Heart: Astronaut Finds Passion for Photography in Space
• Excalibur Almaz
• Google Earth User Guide
• Earth from Space: A dataset of selected astronaut-acquired images of Earth (including a clickable map)
• The Gateway to Astronaut Photography from Earth: hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth
• Google Earth User Guide: Tours

Week 10: Exploring Precipitation Patterns

• Using GPS devices with Google Earth
• Google Earth Guide to KML
• Satellite imagery of Icelandic volcano ash plume
• Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Maps and imagery
• Short movie showing TRMM
• Global Precipitation Measurement
• TRMM background
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: Urban Rain
• TRMM observed flooding rains in U.S. northeast
• KML/KMZ examples for NASA imagery data
• Additional TRMM KMZ data
• Heavy Rain Brings Flooding to the Midwest
• National Weather Data in KML/KMZ formats

Week 11: Using Satellite Data to Investigate Deforestation

• Color Models
• How Color Film Works
• Digital Cameras and Bayer Patterns
• Color film
• AVIRIS
• EO-1/Hyperion
• NASA Earth Observatory - Tierras Bajas Deforestation
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: Tropical Deforestation
• NASA Article: Tropical Deforestation Affects Rainfall in the U.S. and Around the Globe
• NASA Article: NASA Funded Studies Suggest Strategies for Reducing Deforestation Carbon Emissions
• CNN Video: Deforestation in the Rainforest
• FAO's State of the World's Forests Report
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: Stealing Rain from the Rainforest
• The Landsat Program
• USGS Landsat Global Visualization Viewer
• USGS EarthExplorer
• Landsat Band Combinations
• Interpreting Landsat Band Combinations

Week 12: Comparing Geospatial Tools

• [link https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 'NASA Earth Observations' new]
• ImageJ Documentation
• NASA MODIS instrument site
• NASA Oceanography
• NASA Earth Observatory Feature Article: Ocean & Climate
• JPL's Our Ocean Portal
• Aquarius Mission page
• About TOPP
• Whalenet - Source of the data in this activity
• Sea Turtle Tracking Projects at the Caribbean Conservation Corporation
• NOAA Fisheries Olive Ridley Turtle Page
• US Fish and Wildlife Olive Ridley Turtle Page
• Argos Transmitters Protecting Biodiversity
• Tracking of Pacific Pelagics
• Arkive Videos and Images about Olive Ridley Turtles