Event-Based Science (EBS): Remote-Sensing Activities enable middle school students to use remotely-sensed data- as they tackle the real-world problems and tasks found in existing EBS modules. Remotely-sensed data are employed as an integral part of both the presentation of Earth system science concepts, and in the solutions to real-world problems. These activities emphasize the use of NASA remote-sensing data from satellites and sensors including: Landsat, GOES, and MODIS, and SeaWiFS. The EBS remote-sensing activities enhance EBS modules, including: Blight! Earthquake! Fire! Flood! Hurricane! Oil Spill! and Volcano!

This activity is a class lab activity in which students will observe unknown rocks and learn about how they fit into the rock cycle.

GNOME (General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment) is the oil spill trajectory model used by OR&R Emergency Response Division (ERD) responders during an oil spill. ERD trajectory modelers use GNOME in Diagnostic Mode to set up custom scenarios quickly. In Standard Mode, anyone can use GNOME (with a Location File) to:

- predict how wind, currents, and other processes might move and spread oil spilled on the water.
- learn how predicted oil trajectories are affected by inexactness ("uncertainty") in current and wind observations and forecasts.
- see how spilled oil is predicted to change chemically and physically ("weather") during the time that it remains on the water surface.

To use GNOME, you describe a spill scenario by entering information into the program; GNOME then creates and displays an oil spill "movie" showing the predicted trajectory of the oil spilled in your scenario. Along with GNOME, most users also will want to download the Location Files for their regions of interest. Location Files contain prepackaged tide and current data and make it easier to work with GNOME.

GNOME was developed by the Emergency Response Division (ERD) (formerly the Hazardous Materials Response Division [HAZMAT]) of NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R).

This video adapted from KTOO explores why the beaches of Latouche Island and Knight Island, Alaska, contain remnants of an oil spill and discusses its resulting impact on the Alutiiq community of Chenega Bay.

This video adapted from KTOO explores the impact of oil contamination on the herring population of Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1999, 10 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

This website is designed to contain up-to-date news and information about the issues facing penguins in their natural habita,t specifically the African Penguin. Penguins feed at or near the top of food chains in many ecosystems and so are sensitive to alterations in the marine habitat. They are also highly visible enigmatic birds which as a family have a circumglobal distribution within the southern hemisphere. However, many of the world's 18 penguin species are facing threats to their existence. In 2010, 11 species were considered of conservation concern and five of these, including the African Penguin, were listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, The threats facing penguins are not unique, but generally represent more widespread impacts by man on the marine environment or its islands. Measure, will also be advantageous to the health of the wider marine environment and the other species that inhabit it. In other words, penguins are ambassadors of marine biodiversity and they should be seen as flagship species for conservation with their fate representing that of many of the worlds marine ecosystems and organisms.

How does an ecosystem recover from a major one-time insult such as an oil spill? As you will learn from this Discovery Story, the answer is not simple. It isn't easy to determine whether a particular area of shoreline has recovered from oiling during a spill, or how to expect it to look when it has.

In this interactive activity, learn about strategies used in Prince William Sound, Alaska, to help avoid oil spills and to identify and contain environmental contaminants. The activity features videos adapted from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council, KTOO, and NOVA: The Big Spill.