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My NASA Data Earth System Explorer

Provided by: My NASA Data

Graphs/Tables Grades 9-12

Synopsis

This interactive map allows students to visualize datasets associated with the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere.
Students can compare two different datasets, download the data as a table, see the data as a time plot, and isolate data for a specific location.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Geography

Authors: My NASA Data

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

This map uses a wide range of datasets, making it a versatile tool to explore and visualize many topics.
The included tutorial video is straightforward, and the map is easy to manipulate with the dropdown menus on the left and other features on the right.

Prerequisites

Students should be familiar with interactive map features, including keys, layers, latitude, and longitude.
Students in the United States may need help converting or understanding the difference between degrees measured in Celsius and Fahrenheit.

Differentiation & Implementation

Using the Atmosphere and Climate Models datasets and the Compare Two feature, students can compare the current average air temperatures to those in the future to see the difference depending on which climate model is chosen. Students can discuss why these models lead to their respective atmospheric temperatures and research the implications for each model.
Teachers can either play the tutorial video for the class as a whole or have students watch it as homework before an in-class lab with the tool.
Using the Hydrosphere and Sea Level Rise datasets and the Compare Two feature, students can see how the occurrence of sea level rise anomalies has increased since their birth year or a different year for reference. To predict future sea level rise, students can use the Geometry Lesson: Calculating Sea Level Rise.

Scientist Notes

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Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

My NASA Data

NASA offers petabytes of global Earth science data collected from satellites, but accessing these data in a traditional (or virtual) science classroom can be tricky. Since 2004, My NASA Data has supported students and teachers of grades 3-12 in analyzing and interpreting NASA mission data.