This illustration from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory shows the approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Note that the planets are not shown at appropriate distances from the Sun.

In this interactive atlas adapted from UNEP/GRID-Arendal, explore different environmental features of the Arctic. Select from a list of themes to customize your map, then zoom in to take a closer look at one of six featured regions.

Learn how the Arctic is a part of a global climate system in this video segment adapted from the National Film Board of Canada.

In this video segment adapted from KUAC, find out why the horizon in Alaska is sometimes shrouded in pollution and what it means for climate change in the Arctic.

This diagram from NASA's Earth Science Enterprise illustrates the Earth's carbon cycle .

In this video an engineering design professor explains three power systems for a homestead at the Center for Sustainability at Penn State.

This video adapted from KTOO takes a look at Earth's warming and cooling cycles and the current atypical trend of warming that is impacting the glaciers in Alaska's Inside Passage.

This visualization from McDougal Littell/TERC visualizes the movement of warm and cold fronts and the cloud types that are generated as a result.

The purpose of this resource is to deepen students understanding of the Earth as a system, and their appreciation for the value of diagrams as tools. Students visit a study site, where they observe and recall their existing knowledge of air, water, soil, and living things to make a list of interconnections among the four Earth system components. They make predictions about the effects of a change in a system, inferring ways these changes affect the characteristics of other related components.

The purpose of this resource is to develop familiarity with interactions among the major components of the Earth system at the global scale. Students brainstorm about the nature of connections between their region and others, across oceans and on different continents. On a black-line map of the world, they trace possible pathways of water and wind currents from their part of the continent to other continents, and identify what the wind and water carry. Then they write about the possible effects of activities in other regions on their region, and the possible effects of activities in their regions, on others.

The purpose of this resource is to help students articulate and integrate their existing knowledge about the air, water, soil, and living things by viewing them as interacting parts of a system. Students visit a study site, where they observe and recall their existing knowledge of air, water, soil, and living things to make a list of interconnections among the four Earth system components. They make predictions about the effects of a change in a system, inferring ways these changes affect the characteristics of other related components.

Examine geological evidence found in fossils, rock deposits, and ancient mountains that supports the theory of continental drift in this interactive activity adapted from the Exploratorium.

The purpose of this resource is to develop the best possible representation of the study site as a system. Students visit a study site, where they observe and recall their existing knowledge of air, water, soil, and living things to make a list of interconnections among the four Earth system components. They make predictions about the effects of a change in a system, inferring ways these changes affect the characteristics of other related components.

This video segment adapted from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center discusses how a drought can have negative effects locally, for example by increasing the number of forest fires, and also globally, for example by impacting air quality thousands of miles away.

This video segment adapted from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center explains ice's role in the Earth system, highlighting the delicate balance that could be upset with a continued rise in temperature due to climate change.

This interactive activity from the Adler Planetarium explains the reasons for the seasons. Featured is a game in which Earth must be properly placed in its orbit in order to send Max, the host, to different parts of the world during particular seasons.

In this video segment adapted from NASA, take a tour of the cryosphere in North America and the Arctic using satellite imagery.

This visualization from McDougal Littell/TERC visualizes the relationship between global wind directions and the direction of ocean surface currents.

In this interactive activity from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana, examine a piece of the ancient Borden Sea in what is now central Indiana. Explore the types of fossils found there and the clues they offer to ancient life on Earth.