Frank Potter's Science Gems - Earth Science II

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V. Earth Science - Atmosphere

"MINIMUM" Level: Kindergarten

• Cloud Guide - Utah Education Network Beautiful images of all the cloud types.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 3rd Grade

• Current Weather in U.S. NOAA Weather update including satellite images.
  
  
• "Weather Dude" weather basics for kids- N. Walker, KSTW -TV Great variety of information - definitions, weather maps, questions & answers, etc..
  
  
• THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE SCIENCE MUSEUM Resources for science learning: astronomy, sports, weather, wellness.
  
  
• Lightning!! - GHCC Lightning Research Team at NASA All you want to know about lightning, including movies from the space shuttle missions, city lights at night from space, storm cells, and rainfall.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 6th Grade

• Current Weather in U.S. NOAA Weather update including satellite images.
  
  
• Meteorology - WW2010, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign "The Online Meteorology Guide is a collection of multimedia instructional modules dedicated to online learning in the atmospheric sciences." Topics include: light, optics, clouds, precipitation, forces, winds, air masses, fronts, midlatitude cyclones, weather forecasting, severe storms, hurricanes, el nino.
  
  
• Absorption of Sound by the Atmosphere Calculator (JavaScript) Put in air pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and frequency.
  
  
• Automated Hurricane Tracking - P. Curtis, Terrapin Associates The StormTrack system watches various weather information servers for new tropical depressions, storms, or hurricanes in the Atlantic.
  
  
• Greenhouse Effect - P. Holper, CSIRO, Australia Some background, some tables of data, and some predictions.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 9th Grade

• What is El Niño?? - TAO Project at U.S. Dept. of Commerce Graphics and animations of normal and El Niño? conditions with data gathered from moored buoys in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
  
  
• Earth Climate Course Computer Models - ICP, NASA Greenhouse Effect, Solar radiation budget, etc.
  
  
• Correct that Bad Meteorology! - A.B. Fraser, Dept. of Meteorology, Penn State University Let's get the science right about cloud formation, the greenhouse effect, and the draining of water in the sink.
  
  
• Atmospheric Calculator (JavaScript) - M. Elbrecht Includes: Temperature; Wind; Pressure; Dewpoint; Relative Humidity; Wetbulb; Heat Index and Wind Chill Index within the same calculator.
  
  
• Weather reports (USA and World) plus Ski Conditions Worldwide - Intellicast, WSI Corp. All the info one needs - cities, too, and special ski bargains.
  
  
• Greenhouse Effect - P. Holper, CSIRO, Australia Some background, some tables of data, and some predictions.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: university

• Byrd Polar Research Center - Ohio State University Meteorology research at Greenland and the Arctic.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: graduate

• To be added when verified
  
  

VI. Earth Science - Land

"MINIMUM" Level: Kindergarten

• Colorful Landform Atlas of the United States - R. Sterner, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab State maps color coded for mountains, valleys, etc. and with county borders, etc.
  
  
• Passport to the Rainforest - Passport to Knowledge Maps, information about rainforests, journeys, pictures of the animals and their habitats in the rainforest.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 3rd Grade

• U.S. Census Information - Census, U.S. Government Facts available from the census about people, business, geography, etc.
  
  
  
Maps - National Geographic Society Physical and political maps of individual countries and larger regions of the world. Mars map.


• Panoramic Maps - Library of Congress Browse by Geographic Location or Subject. "The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Known also as bird's-eye views, perspective maps, and aero views..."
  
  
• Maps - MapQuest "MapQuest lets users click and zoom to explore the entire world while customizing, saving and printing dynamic maps of over 3,000,000 locations worldwide..."
  
  
• How are Earthquake Magnitudes measured? - Michigan Technology University Mercalli and Richter scales with examples.
  
  
• Understanding Earthquakes - ICS, UC Santa Barbara Quiz, Rotating globe showing earthquake locations, Anecdotes, How earthquakes occur, History of Seismology, Links.
  
  
• Earthquake Facts and Follies -Center for Earthquake Research and Information, U. of Memphis, USA All sorts of questions and answers!
  
  
• National Earthquake Information Center - US Geological Survey. Near-real-time earthquake bulletins.
  
  
• Earth's Active Volcanos - Michigan Technical University Volcano listings by continent and sea.
  
  
• Learning from the Fossil Record - UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Essays, activities, and lesson plans on fossils, paleontology, and the geologic time scale.
  
  
• Comprehending Geological Time - Anthro Ltd. "...use this calculator to create your own metaphor for geologic time."
  
  
• UC BERKELEY MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY Interactive natural history museum in which you can select the geological time period of your interest via "On-line Exhibits".
  
  
• Electronic Gemstone Library - Canadian Institute of Gemmology "[These] gemstones are the more popular ones usually set in jewelry found in retail-stores."
  
  
• Gems and Gem Materials - J. Banfield & H. Cook-Wallace, UC Berkeley Web course for learning about minerals and gems.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 6th Grade

• Ask-A-Geologist - US Geological Survey, Department of the Interior "Do you have a question about volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, rocks, maps, ground water, lakes, or rivers?"
  
  
• Map Resources Worldwide!! - The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, U. of Texas
  Everthing you always wanted to know about map making - with numerous images!
  
  
• Search for Ice and Snow - Lawrence Hall of Science
  "Use an Earth Image database (Space Shuttle images) to try to find places on Earth where there is ice and snow."
  
  
• Earth as Art - USGS Images of Earth. Click on the continent.
  
  
• Volcanoes - Michigan Technological University "information about current global volcanic activity, research in remote sensing of volcanoes and their eruptive products, hazard mitigation, "Decade Volcanoes", links to government agencies and research institutions, and even some volcano humor."
  
  
• Great Circle Sailing Calculator (JavaScript) - CSGNetwork and Computer Support Group "To sail a great circle track, the navigator needs to adjust the ship's course continuously because the great circle track is a curve when plotted on a Mercator Chart. It is unrealistic to attempt to sail on an exact great circle route. Realistically, to best make use of the shorter sailing distance of the great circle track, navigators usually divide a great circle track between the initial position and the destination into many much smaller segments (way points) of about one to two day's sailing time (obviously depending on the craft and conditions) and make course adjustments each day at the same time, usually at high noon. "
  
  
• US EPA - Environmental Protection Agency Examine water topics of the United States and your local region.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 9th Grade

• Ask-A-Geologist - US Geological Survey, Department of the Interior "Do you have a question about volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, rocks, maps, ground water, lakes, or rivers?"
  
  
• Blast from the Past! Dinosaur Extinction - Smithsonian Institution "A recently recovered deep-sea core contains convincing new evidence of an asteroid impact 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs went extinct."
  
  
• Big Trouble in Earthquake Country - Lawrence Hall of Science "Use on-line earthquake hazard maps and other relevant geological information to assess hazards to life and property associated with hypothetical earthquakes of various magnitudes. Working in small groups with other students, you may then use this information to develop strategies that might be used to reduce damage and loss of life..."
  
  
• This Dynamic Earth - US Geological Survey From the book: Historical perspective, Understanding Plate motions, Unanswered questions, Developing the Theory, Hotspots & Mantle thermal plumes, Plate tectonics & people.
  
  
• Corrected Geomagnetic Coordinates Calculator - NSSDC "This page enables the transformation of GEOgraphic coordinates to Corrected GeoMagnetic (CGM) coordinates and vice versa."
  
  
• National Earthquake Information Center - USGS Present and past earthquakes worldwide.
  
  
• Can You Read a Quake? - U. of California "...A good seismograph can detect seismic waves from an earthquake thousands of kilometers away. In this activity, you will learn how to understand and get information from a seismogram.."
  
  
• Earthquakes and their history- St. Louis University Earthquake Center Recent earthquake maps - U.S. and worldwide - as well as some historical records from the 1800's.
  
  
• Make your own seismogram!- UC Berkeley & U. of Arizona Vary the parameters to your liking! Also images of digital seismograms of selected past large earthquakes worldwide.
  
  
• Global Positioning System (GPS) Overview History and pertinent concepts in great detail as well as links to other relevant materials.
  
  
• Soil Terms Glossary - Research Branch Services, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Includes images.
  
  
• Mineralogy Database - D. Barthelmy Various classification schemes. More than 4714 mineral species descriptions with links and images. Includes Crystallography, X-Ray Powder Diffraction, Struntz Classification, Mineral Pictures, etc.
  
  
• Athena Minerology - Genève (Geneva), Suisse (Switzerland) Very Large resource of databases that include mineral pictures, elements, and a search engine.
  
  
• Gemstone Calculators - Dentritics "Given the dimensions, calculate the weight of your stone." Optimized for over 1000 gemstones!! Variety of gem calculators including carat weight, specific gravity, precious metal values, units conversion (grams, carats, pennyweights, etc).
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: university

• Earthquake Pictures "Images from historic earthquakes."
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: graduate

• THE CORNELL "Digital Earth" PROJECT - Institute for the Study of Continents, Cornell University Capability of interactive mapping with numerous data sets.
  
  

VII. Earth Science - Oceans

"MINIMUM" Level: Kindergarten

• Ocean Worlds - NASA Water in the Solar System and beyond!
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 3rd Grade

• To be added when verified.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 6th Grade

• Great Circle Sailing Calculator (JavaScript) - CSGNetwork and Computer Support Group "To sail a great circle track, the navigator needs to adjust the ship's course continuously because the great circle track is a curve when plotted on a Mercator Chart. It is unrealistic to attempt to sail on an exact great circle route. Realistically, to best make use of the shorter sailing distance of the great circle track, navigators usually divide a great circle track between the initial position and the destination into many much smaller segments (way points) of about one to two day's sailing time (obviously depending on the craft and conditions) and make course adjustments each day at the same time, usually at high noon. "
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 9th Grade

• WhaleNet: Migration Routes for Whales, Porpoises, etc. by Satellite Tagging - J.M. Williamson, Wheelock College, Boston, and NSF Recent position data from satellite tagging of many marine mammals and reptiles. Lesson plan, questions, activities, maps.
  
  
• Harmful Algal Blooms - "Red Tides" - National Office for Marine Biotoxins and Harmful Algal Blooms "Harmful algae are microscopic,single-celled plants that live in the sea. Most species of algae or phytoplankton are not harmful and serve as the energy producers at the base of the food web, without which higher life on this planet would not exist. Unfortunately, a small number of species produce potent neurotoxins that can be transfered through the food web..." Species, human illness, etc., as well as numerous photos.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: university

"MINIMUM" Level: graduate

• To be added when verified.
  
  

VIII. Earth Science - Water

"MINIMUM" Level: Kindergarten

• NANOWORLD HOME PAGE - D. Waddell @ Univ. of Queensland, Australia Electron microscope images in abundance: select Image Gallery to see insects, blood cell, cement, polyp skeleton, crystals, bread mold, rat hair, egg shell, pollen, etc. Also a wonderful section on scale size examples from the atomic & molecular to the cellular and macromolecular. [If you have a slow connection, turn off auto-images and select later.]
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 3rd Grade

• To be added when verified.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 6th Grade

• The Global Water Sampling Project (Grades 7-12) - Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE), Stevens Institute of Technology "For the fourth year, students are teaming up around the globe to test fresh water. Join us in this collaborative project and compare the water quality of your local river, stream, lake or pond with other fresh water sources around the world..."
  
  
• Surf your local Watershed - US Environmental Protection Agency Graphs of river watersheds searchable by maps and other means.
  
  
• River Flow data - real time! - USGS Data and graphs of river discharge values and well data. "These pages provide access to water-resources data collected at approximately 1.5 million sites in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico."
  
  
• Edwards Aquifer in Texas - EARDC Data and graphs of aquifer water level and flow rate, plus all sorts of related information about the water, animals, and climate of the region.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 9th Grade

• The Global Water Sampling Project (Grades 7-12) - Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE), Stevens Institute of Technology "For the fourth year, students are teaming up around the globe to test fresh water. Join us in this collaborative project and compare the water quality of your local river, stream, lake or pond with other fresh water sources around the world..."
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: university

• To be added when verified.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: graduate

• To be added when verified.
  
  

IX. Earth Science - Resources

"MINIMUM" Level: Kindergarten

• To be added when verified.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 3rd Grade

• To be added when verified.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 6th Grade

• The Global Water Sampling Project (Grades 7-12) - Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE), Stevens Institute of Technology "For the fourth year, students are teaming up around the globe to test fresh water. Join us in this collaborative project and compare the water quality of your local river, stream, lake or pond with other fresh water sources around the world..."
  
  
• Building a Solar House in Maine - CREST - W. Lord This is the continuing story of a new solar home--how it is being built and how it is working. Also, tables of solar radiation and climate data for comparison and calculation uses.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: 9th Grade

• The Global Water Sampling Project (Grades 7-12) - Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE), Stevens Institute of Technology "For the fourth year, students are teaming up around the globe to test fresh water. Join us in this collaborative project and compare the water quality of your local river, stream, lake or pond with other fresh water sources around the world..."
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: university

• Newsroom - US Fish and Wildlife Recent and archive bulletins and news.
  
  

"MINIMUM" Level: graduate

• To be added when verified.