This site from the Hydrologic Information Center of the National Weather Service discusses the flood risk in the United States. Maps and satellite images support the text. The site also provides information about snow levels, stream flow, soil conditions, forecasts and outlooks.

The Horn of Africa has been experiencing exceptional droughts over the last decade. Using data collected from the NOAA POES satellite, changes in the severity of the drought conditions in the Horn and around the world are shown.

This Ocean Explorer lesson plan (PDF) explores the questions: What colors, if any, are visible down in the deep sea? What is bioluminescence? Students will learn about white light (visible light), the quantity and quality of light as related to ocean depth, the difference in water penetration between red light and blue light, bioluminescent organisms, the color of most bioluminescent light, and why organisms bioluminesce. The lesson plan includes background information and keywords, a list of materials, teacher preparation instructions, learning procedures, related links, evaluation and extension ideas, and correlation to the national standards.

The Bering Sea Climate website contains time series data that measures climate and ecosystem status in the Bering Sea. The site presents data, metadata, and graphics by allowing the user to select categories and then click a button for the desired function. Data can be displayed as a list, a time series plot, or in terms of recent trends, relevance, and correlation. Measured parameters include weather, oceanographic and climate data, sea ice data, and fisheries and other biological data. The site also offers professional essays about the Bering Sea ecosystem and industry reports on climatic conditions and trends for the North Pacific in general and the Bering Sea in particular. Further information is available through links to additional data resources, communication, organizations, maps, ecosystem information, and a photo gallery. This resource is part of the Using Data collection. http://serc.carleton.edu/usingdata/

Ocean Explorer Expedition Education Modules (EEM) are designed to reach out in new ways to teachers, students, and the general public, and share the excitement of daily at-sea discoveries and the science behind NOAA's major ocean exploration initiatives with the people around the world. The Bioluminescence 2009: Living Light on the Deep Sea Floor Expedition offers a unique opportunity to engage explorers of all ages as we continue our journeys to parts of our ocean planet that few have seen - the bioluminescent benthic environments of the deep ocean.

provides papers on the aurora and ionosphere, scales for measuring space weather, and a textbook for high school teachers and advanced students -- Solar Physics and Terrestrial Effects. The textbook examines a range of topics: the evolution and structure of the sun, sunspots and solar flares, the corona and chromosphere, solar-terrestrial interactions, building a spectroscope, measuring the solar constant, and seeing at different wavelengths.

In this lesson students discover the factors that are indicative of chemotrophic nutritional strategies. This NOAA lesson plan is designed to teach students about the factors that are indicative of chemotrophic nutritional strategies. Students will be able to describe at least three chemotrophic symbioses known from deep-sea habitats. They will identify and explain three indicators of chemotropic nutrition. This hands-on activity uses online data resources and includes: focus questions, background information, evaluations and extensions, as well as resources and student handouts.

This Climate Change Impacts Collection provides the teacher and their students the opportunity to explore some of the environmental changes already observed, from the Arctic to tropical regions. Data sources provide historic precipitation and temperature records, allowing students to compare changes in their own local area to others. Lessons included, provide opportunities for place-based instruction related to climate change, others provided a more global perspective. The background resources provided in this collection tend to be for the teacher and/or the advanced student.

Educators can use the resources in this Collection to teach their students about the science and beauty of corals. They can use these organisms and ecosystems to teach many scientific concepts including symbiotic relationships, reproduction strategies, food webs, chemistry, biotic and abiotic interactions, human impacts, etc. Additionally, educators can use corals to teach about conservation and stewardship of the environment. Even if you don't live near a reef, students can learn that they can help protect coral reefs in the U.S. and around the world. There are many actions, small and large, that you and your students can take to help conserve coral reefs.

Hypoxic zones are areas in the ocean of such low oxygen concentration that animal life suffocates and dies, and as a result are sometimes called "dead zones." One of the largest dead zones forms in the Gulf of Mexico every spring. This data visualization discusses the causes of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

Corals in the deep sea? When asked to describe corals, most people think of those that make up tropical, shallow-water reefs like the Great Barrier Reef. See what scientist discovered in the North Atlantic waters deeper than 1000 meters.

This database contains imagery from geosationary satellites. Visitors can access daily images or archived imagery form GOES-9, METEOSAT, and other satellites. The imagery features hemispheric and whole-disk views of Earth, water vapor maps, and images of storms and other special events. Links to satellite homepages and to other related topics are included.

This website is the homepage of NOAA's global drifter program, which tracks the motion of buoys across the world's oceans. The buoys measure temperature and other properties, and have a transmitter with which to send data to passing satellites. Ocean currents and chemistry can be measured from the buoy's data.

The Great Lakes are socially, economically, and environmentally significant to the region, the nation, and the planet." This an essential principle for Great Lakes literacy. The Great Lakes Literacy Principles and Fundamental Concepts provide a framework for educators teaching about the Great Lakes, helping teachers and students think, teach and learn of the Great Lakes as a system, rather than a set of unrelated parts. Thinking systemically can provide for a greater understanding and can help provide solutions to the issues threatening the region.

The newness of the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill limits the number of educational products designed to investigate and teach about impacts to the Gulf ecosystem. Ongoing efforts are being undertaken to develop lessons, media, and resources for educators to use in their teaching to help students and the public to better understand this event. The materials provided with this collection present the facts surrounding the spill and ongoing research, monitoring, and restoration efforts. More general education products from previous spills are provided to help educators present the concepts of human impacts on the ocean, oil specific impacts, spill clean-up, and the effects of toxins on natural environments. This site will be updated periodically as more information becomes available.

This website describes HABHRCA, a legislative Act that authorizes funding for research on harmful algal blooms (HABs) and hypoxia to advance scientific understanding and our ability to detect, assess, predict, control, and mitigate events. The site discusses the Act, gives an overview of The Interagency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia, and features links to past plans and reports called for by HABHRCA 1998. It also serves as a jumping point to conferences and workshops, pertinent documents, and other informational resources.

This NOAA sponsored website offers a collection of hyperlinks to red tide related articles, distribution maps, photographs, news, and meetings. Links include basic information about red tide, how red tide affects humans and ecosystems, the latest news about red tide and other harmful algal blooms (HABs), and information about red tide-based meetings and conferences.

Human activities, both knowingly and unknowingly, affect the ocean. A team of 19 scientists, including one from NOAA, undertook the task of mapping how humans have impacted the ocean over time. This animation takes a tour of this marine impact map and identifies some of the sources of negative impacts on the ocean.

This webpage, developed by the National Hurricane Center, describes hurricane storm surges. The page contains a detailed description of storm surges and how they are created, tools to evaluate the potential threat from storm surges, safety information and related links. Also included are animations and diagrams describing storm surges.