This lesson plan uses NASA Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument percent coverage surface data with a world map to locate landmasses and bodies of water at the Earth's Equator. When using satellites to study Earth system processes, especially atmospheric processes, it is important to know what is the background that one is seeing on the Earth. This lesson provides an introduction to exploring Earth surface types. The percent water along the Equator is about 77 percent, which is surprisingly representative of the entire planet. At 40N latitude, the percentage water is about 55 percent, so any single latitude is not necessarily representative of the Earth as a whole.
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Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science, Lunar and Planetary Science, Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Biology Resource Type: Datasets and Tools:Datasets Grade Level: High School (9-12), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8) Theme: Teach the Earth:Course Topics:Planetary Science, Teach the Earth:Incorporating Societal Issues:Climate Change, Teach the Earth:Course Topics:Atmospheric ScienceKeywords: Data Analysis, Graphing, Computer Technology, Ozone, Aerosols, Atmosphere--Physical Properties, Weather, Clouds and Cloud Cover, Solar Radiation, Remote Sensing (Active and Passive)
