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.

Students conduct a simple experiment to model and explore the harmful effects of acid rain (vinegar) on living (green leaf and eggshell) and non-living (paper clip) objects.

With wisdom and wit, Anupam Mishra talks about the amazing feats of engineering built centuries ago by the people of India's Golden Desert to harvest water. These structures are still used today -- and are often superior to modern water megaprojects. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 17-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.

This site features GIFs, Java applets, MPEGs, and Flash animations that illustrate various forms of precipitation and moisture. They include an animation of air parcels and water vapor colliding with condensation nuclei which results in condensation and cloud formation, an interactive precipitation animation applet that allows the user to set wet and dry bulb temperatures to see if snow, ice, freezing rain, sleet, super cooled droplets, raindrops, or drizzle will fall, an animation of lake effect snow over the Great Lakes, and infrared satellite images of water vapor moving across the US. These resources portray a variety of environments and are suitable for use in lectures, labs, or other teaching activities.

Students explore the impact of changing river volumes and different floodplain terrain in experimental trials with table top-sized riverbed models. The models are made using modeling clay in an aluminum baking pans placed on a slight incline. Water added "upstream" at different flow rates and to different riverbed configurations simulates different potential flood conditions. Students study flood dynamics as they modify the riverbed with blockages or levees to simulate real-world scenarios.

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.

Hurricane Isadore is the second Atlantic hurricane of the 2002 season. It brought 80 mph winds and tremendous rainfall to Cuba. The visualization depicts the overall rain structure of the storm. Yellow represents areas where at least 0.5 inches of rain fell per hour. Green shows at least 1.0 inch of rain, and red depicts more than 2.0 inches of rain per hour.

This animation shows rain accumulation between Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan. The green path is the path Hurricane Frances took between August 25, 2004, and September 9, 2004. The red path is Hurricane Ivan from September 2, 2004, to September 19, 2004.

NASAs TRMM spacecraft is used by meteorologists to understand Hurricane Ivan. TRMM views Ivan on September 16, 2004, just as the storms most intense rains and winds makes landfall. The cloud cover is taken by TRMMs Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS). The rain structure is taken by TRMMs Tropical Microwave Imager (TMI). It looks underneath of the storms clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour.

Hands-on group activity in where children go outside to find clouds, document with pictures, and identify them.

The NASA finite-volume General Circulation Model (fvGCM) is used to produce a high-resolution weather prediction system. This model has an increased accuracy of predicting the strength and location of hurricanes over other prediction methods. Several variables are predicted, including cloud cover and precipitable water in the atmosphere. Data from Hurricane Isabel was used to validate the fvGCM model.

The collision of a flow of moisture from Hawaii known as a "Pineapple Express" and a persistent low pressure system are wreaking havoc on California weather. This movie shows rain accumulation in San Diego from Jan. 6 through Jan. 11 based on data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)-based Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis. The accumulation is shown in colors ranging from green (less than 50 mm of rain) through red (200 mm or more). The TRMM satellite, using the worlds only space-borne rain radar and other microwave instruments, measures rainfall over the ocean. In this case instruments were able to reveal rainfall structure resulting from storms "riding" the actual Pineapple Express extending toward Hawaii, which is beyond the range of conventional land-based National Weather Service radars. In early 1995, a Pineapple Express hit California, contributing to a season of winter storms that killed 27 people and did $3 billion in damages and costs. A Pineapple Express in mid-October 2003 wreaked havoc from south of Seattle to north of Vancouver Island. Flooding forced more than 3,000 people from their homes.

Students are introduced to our planet's structure and its dynamic system of natural forces through an examination of the natural hazards of earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, tsunamis, floods and tornados, as well as avalanches, fires, hurricanes and thunderstorms. They see how these natural events become disasters when they impact people, and how engineers help to make people safe from them. Students begin by learning about the structure of the Earth; they create clay models showing the Earth's layers, see a continental drift demo, calculate drift over time, and make fault models. They learn how earthquakes happen; they investigate the integrity of structural designs using model seismographs. Using toothpicks and mini-marshmallows, they create and test structures in a simulated earthquake on a tray of Jell-O. Students learn about the causes, composition and types of volcanoes, and watch and measure a class mock eruption demo, observing the phases that change a mountain's shape. Students learn that the different types of landslides are all are the result of gravity, friction and the materials involved. Using a small-scale model of a debris chute, they explore how landslides start in response to variables in material, slope and water content. Students learn about tsunamis, discovering what causes them and makes them so dangerous. Using a table-top-sized tsunami generator, they test how model structures of different material types fare in devastating waves. Students learn about the causes of floods, their benefits and potential for disaster. Using riverbed models made of clay in baking pans, students simulate the impact of different river volumes, floodplain terrain and levee designs in experimental trials. They learn about the basic characteristics, damage and occurrence of tornadoes, examining them closely by creating water vortices in soda bottles. They complete mock engineering analyses of tornado damage, analyze and graph US tornado damage data, and draw and present structure designs intended to withstand high winds.

The lesson introduces students to the steps of the water cycle and rivers. They think about the effects of communities, sidewalks and roads on the natural flow of rainwater. Students also learn about the role of engineering in community planning and protecting our natural resources.

Hurricane Isabel generated large amounts of rain over the Atlantic ocean as it approached East coast of the United States in September 2003. In fact, unlike many hurricanes, most of the Isabels rainfall did not occur over land; flooding on land was caused mainly by storm surge. This animation shows accumulation of rainfall from the hurricane--each frame shows the total amount of rain since the start of the measurement period. Rain from other sources has been masked out, so the hurricane track is clearly visible as the storm moves across the Atlantic.

TRMM daily rain maps showing the daily rainfall around the world from January 8, 1998 through October 21, 2000. Red indicates areas of high rainfall.

Tropical Cyclone Zoe brought winds in excess of 300 km per hour (186 mph) and dangerous waves to the south pacific islands on December 29, 2002. The visualization zooms down to the storm and then shows the overall rain structure. Blue represents areas where at least 0.5 inches of rain fell per hour. Green shows at least 1.0 inch of rain. Yellow is 1.7 inches and red depicts more than 2.2 inches of rain per hour.

Tropical Depression 14 heads toward Cuba on October 15, 2002. The storm appears to be losing strength. The visualization zooms down to the storm and then shows the overall rain structure. Blue represents areas where at least 0.5 inches of rain fell per hour. Green shows at least 1.0 inch of rain. Yellow is 1.7 inches and red depicts more than 2.2 inches of rain per hour.