During the hurricane season of 2004, an unprecedented four hurricanes hit Florida. This animation shows the accumulated rainfall produced by three of those hurricanes during the month of September. The animation also shows the rainfall from the typhoons in the Pacific Ocean during the same period.

Actual Precipitation using SSM-I data from 1-97 to 5-98

This lesson is designed to help students gain knowledge in accessing current weather data and in using the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS) to specify and download historical satellite data.

Global surface temperatures in 1998 set a new record for the period of instrumental measurements, report researchers at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies who analyze data collected from several thousand meteorological stations around the world. This visualization shows surface temperature anomalies from 1950 through November, 1998. The 1998 warmth was associated partly with a strong El Nino that warmed the air over the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean in the first half of the year and in turn affected weather around the world. Red and yellow colors indicate warmer than normal conditions and blue colors indicates cooler than normal conditions.

In this hands-on activity, students use their senses to describe what the weather is doing and to predict what it might do next. After gaining a basic understanding of weather patterns, students will become state park engineers and build a "backyard weather station" to gather data for an actual weather forecast.

Students construct a three-dimensional model of a water catchment basin using everyday objects to create hills, mountains, valleys and water sources. They experiment to see where rain travels and collects, and survey water pathways to see how they can be altered by natural and human-made activities. Students discuss how engineers design structures that impact water collection, and systems that clean and distribute water.

Corals feed on algae that thrive in the sunlit water surrounding a reef. However, when water temperatures get too warm, the algae food source dies and corals turn a whitish color. Through scientific observation, it has been determined that coral bleaching is the cause. Students will use authentic satellite data to determine when the sea surface temperature meets the criteria to induce coral bleaching.

Scientists have studied the physical properties of clouds and have developed instruments onboard satellites to characterize the types of clouds they see below. Some satellites have instruments that allow them to measure rainfall as well. For this lesson, students will use satellite data to compare precipitation (rainfall) to cloud type

Fly up to a surface of constant precipitation density colored by ground rainfall amounts for a storm over Houston on February 10, 1998, as measured by TRMM. The intense precipitation front in clearly visible in red. TRMM infrared data is shown within the orbital data swath.

Global cumulative precipitation anomaly as measured by TRMM for the period January 1997 through February 1998. Red indicates 10 feet more precipitation than normal during this period and green indicates 10 feet less than normal.

Global land precipitation has increased during the 20th century, especially at the mid and high latitudes, according to a paper published in the November 1997 issue of the Journal of Climate. The paper, written by scientists Drs. Inez Fung, Anthony Del Genio, and Aiguo Dai, is based on a recalibrated compilation and analysis of data from 1900-1988 and confirms previous speculation that land precipitation is increasing. The new research shows a global land trend of a 2.4 mm per decade increase in annual precipitation amounts. Multiplied by almost nine decades, this means that there is about 22 mm more rain falling now each year than there was at the turn of the century -- rainfall as a global mean has risen by slightly more than two percent.

Global precipitation anomaly for the period January 1997 through May 1998, as measured by DMSP SSMI

Global precipitation for the period January 1997 through May 1998, as measured by DMSP SSMI

The term rainfall anomalies means the differences in rainfall from a normal year.

This is a three-hour global rainmap from August 27 through September 8, 2003, as observed by the TRMM satellite.

This is a monthly global rainmap from January, 1979 to January, 2001. The movie correlates 22 years of data from a combination of remote sensing data and ground based sources.

Students learn about energy and nutrient flow in various biosphere climates and environments. They learn about herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, food chains and food webs, seeing the interdependence between producers, consumers and decomposers. Students are introduced to the roles of the hydrologic (water), carbon, and nitrogen cycles in sustaining the worlds' ecosystems so living organisms survive. This lesson is part of a series of six lessons in which students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

Surfaces of constant precipitation density colored by ground rainfall amounts for a storm over Houston on February 10, 1998, as measured by TRMM. The intense precipitation front in clearly visible in red.

Surfaces of constant precipitation density colored by ground rainfall amounts for a storm over Houston on February 10, 1998, as measured by TRMM. The intense precipitation front in clearly visible in red.