The labs presented in this unit on climate and weather include student readings, hands-on investigations, videos, animations, data analysis, and models that students explore to help them understand the ways in which energy from the Sun interacts with Earth's systems at global, regional, and local scales to give Earth its varied climates. Another key concept of the module are the multiple time scales at which climate operates, from predictable seasonal and annual cycles to cycles that last for tens of thousands of years and cause dramatic changes to life on Earth via glaciations, changes in sea level, and other long-term effects.
