Patterns Of Change
It is sometimes hard to visualize patterns of environmental change--including causes and effects of change--in our own neighborhoods or states. It is harder still for most people to imagine changes that occur on a continental or global scale. From the unique vantage point of space, satellite sensors give us a perspective on our world that allows us to observe and measure the myriad cause-and-effect relationships involved in environmental and climatic change.

This educator’s resource contains movies and 3-D snapshots of the Earth that allow students to observe our planet changing, over time and space, and to think about what might be the causes or effects of those changes. To use this resource, students will need access to a Web browser (version 4.0 or newer) with a QuickTime plugin (version 3.0 or newer; click to download the QuickTime software for free. Internet Explorer for Windows users see below). Teachers should click to access the Teacher Resources. Please be aware that some of the accompanying animations can be in excess of 2MB in size.

These exercises were developed by Ereni Gleason and Kelly An, Earth Observatory interns during the summer of 2001.

Note: Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, versions 5.5 SP2 and 6.0 (soon to be released) no longer support Netscape-style plug-ins, such as the plug-in installed as part of QuickTime 5.0.2 and earlier versions. Consequently, Windows customers using these versions of Explorer may be unable to view QuickTime content in the browser. Mac users and Netscape users are unaffected. To restore compatibility, Apple has provided an ActiveX control. Please visit http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/qtcheck/ where you will be prompted to download and install this control if you do not already have it.

Activity #1: Comparing ozone levels in October 1979 to those in October 2000 (298kb)

Activity #2: Comparing surface temperatures in January 1990 to temperatures in June 1990 (335kb)

Activity #3: Comparing 1km² fires to precipitation during the period from April 1992 to December 1993 (348kb)

Activity #4: Comparing vegetation to precipitation during the period from July 1987 to August 1994 (1.94MB)

Activity #5: Comparing sea surface temperature to vegetation index from January 1982 to December 1998 (2.8MB)

Activity #6: Comparing precipitation from January to December, 1993 to precipitation from January to December 1994 (298kb)

Activity #7: Comparing cloud fraction to reflected shortwave radiation from November 1984 to February 1990 (302kb)

Activity #8: Comparing vegetation to surface temperature during the period from August 1985 to December 1992 (1.8MB)

Activity #9: Comparing outgoing heat radiation to cloud fraction during the period of February 1988 to February 1990 (574kb)

Activity #10: Comparing 4 Km² fires during the month of August 1999 to fires in the month of February 2000 (229kb)

Activity #11: Comparing vegetation to landcover classification from January to December 1998 (249kb)

Activity #12: Comparing UV radiation exposure to ozone during the month of October 2000 (344kb)