Workshop Presentations

Heating of the Earth's Atmosphere. This presentation reviews how heat energy is exchanged in the Earth's atmosphere by solar insolation, albedo, and the differential heating a of the Earth's surface (specific heat).

PowerPoint. Click to download the MS Powerpoint file (1.9 Mbytes).

HTML Click to view the presentation in html format. Videos may be viewable depending on browser and operating system.

PDF. Click to view or download the presentation in PDF (1.7 Mbytes).

Online lecture Click here to view a streaming lecture (~37 minutes).

Why Hot Air Rises. This presentation discusses why heated air rises buoyantly in the atmosphere.

PowerPoint. Click to download the MS Powerpoint file (5.4 Mbytes).

HTML Click to view the presentation in html format. Videos may be viewable depending on browser and operating system.

PDF. Click to view or download the presentation in PDF (4.9 Mbytes).

Online lecture Click here to view a streaming lecture (~10 minutes).

Classroom Activities

Albedo and the Differential Heating of Land and Water. This student activity demonstrates how albedo and specific heat capacities of land and water results in differential heating of the Earth's surface. PDF Word file

Hot Air Balloon. This activity demonstrates how hot air rises in the atmosphere due to buoyancy. Two balloons are filled with air; one balloon is filled with room-temperature air and the other is filled with hot air using a hair dryer. Due to potential hazards with constructing the balloon, it is advised to construct the balloon before class. The document below include instructions for making the balloon and a student assessment that can be run during the demonstration.

• Instructions for making the balloon PDF
• Student assessment PDF Word Document

Expansion of Hot Air. Coming Soon

Online Video and Media Resources

NASA Eartth Observatory This website contains great articles, imagery, and animations. The links below are to animated global maps illustrating weather phenomena.

• Cloud Fraction
• Land Surface Temperature
• Land Surface Temperature Anomaly
• Sea Surface Temperature
• Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly
• Total Rainfall
• Water Vapor

Useful Websites

Coming Soon

NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas

Kindergarten
PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer: Sunlight warms Earth's surface. (K-PS3-1), (K-PS3-2)

Middle School
ESS2.D: Weather and Climate: Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things. These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns. (MS-ESS2-6)

High School
ESS2.D: Weather and Climate: The foundation for Earth;s global climate systems is the electromagnetic radiation from the sun, as well as its reflection, absorption, storage, and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems, and this energy's re-radiation into space. (HS-ESS2-4)

Common Scientific Misconceptions

Coming Soon

 

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