NASA and Eco-Schools USA

Eco-Schools USA is proud to feature NASA educational resources as part of its website. Below are links to some wonderful resources that educators and students can use to improve understanding of the Earth as an integrated system.

Earth Observatory

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a coordinated series of polar-orbiting and low inclination satellites for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, solid Earth, atmosphere, and oceans. EOS is a major component of the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. EOS enables an improved understanding of the Earth as an integrated system. The EOS Project Science Office (EOSPSO) is committed to bringing program information and resources to program scientists and the general public alike.

ICESat Mission

ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite) is the benchmark Earth Observing System mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. The ICESat mission will provide multi-year elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as cloud property information, especially for stratospheric clouds common over polar areas. It will also provide topography and vegetation data around the globe, in addition to the polar-specific coverage over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) Education Project

The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) is the first-ever true-color high-resolution satellite view of the Antarctic continent enabling everyone to see Antarctica as it appears in real life. The primary purpose of this site is to provide materials that will allow for both students and educators to explore the continent through the "Antarctic Mysteries" section. This web site is designed as part of the International Polar Year to familiarize people with Antarctica, to explore the richness of its features, to learn about why Antarctica matters to us all, and to explain and demonstrate how scientists use satellite imagery to study the continent.

Coastal Observations

The CoastalObs Project is a collaborative effort between the Center for Innovative technology (CIT), NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), NOAA and a number of governmental, academic and nonacademic partners. The program's main focus is to monitor the physical and biogeochemical state of the Virginia coastal ocean region through the development, deployment and use of various ocean observation tools. Coastal regions within the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) are directly influenced by regional freshwater fluxes that emanate from several large bay systems (Delaware and Chesapeake Bays). The outflows from these bays have high sediment loads and high levels of nutrients, particulate and dissolved organic matter (POM, DOM) that heavily influence the adjacent coastal margin ecosystems. In addition to this, this coastal region is downwind of a large number of metropolitan and industrial regions and the influence of these also impacts the region through airshed fluxes. The effort is developing and deploying an observing system aimed at characterizing and monitoring this coastal region in order to understand the impact of climate change and continued anthropogenic influences.

Ocean Color Web

The "color" of the ocean is determined by the interactions of incident light with substances or particles present in the water. The most significant constituents are free-floating photosynthetic organisms (phytoplankton) and inorganic particulates. Phytoplankton contain chlorophyll, which absorbs light at blue and red wavelengths and transmits in the green. Particulate matter can reflect and absorb light, which reduces the clarity (light transmission) of the water. Substances dissolved in water can also affect its color.

The phrase "ocean color data" refers to accurate measurements of light intensity at visible wavelengths. As ocean color data is related to the presence of the constituents described above, it may therefore be used to calculate the concentrations of material in surface ocean waters and the level of biological activity. Ocean color observations made from Earth orbit allow an oceanographic viewpoint that is impossible from ship or shore -- a global picture of biological activity in the world's oceans.

Terra Mission

NASA launched the Terra satellite on December 18th, 1999. The purpose of the Terra mission is to study climate change across the globe for the next 15 years. Terra is the "flagship" of the Earth Observing System (EOS), an international study of planet Earth. Terra will open up new ways in which Earth's lands, oceans, air, ice, and life can be studied and viewed as a whole system.

Aura Mission

The Aura mission studies the Earth's ozone, air quality and climate. It is designed exclusively to conduct research on the composition, chemistry and dynamics of the Earth's atmosphere. Aura's four instruments study the atmosphere's chemistry and dynamics. Aura's measurements will enable us to investigate questions about ozone trends, air quality changes and their linkage to climate change. Aura's measurements will provide accurate data for predictive models and provide useful information for local and national agency decision support systems.

Aqua Mission

Aqua was the first member launched of a group of satellites termed the Afternoon Constellation, or sometimes the A-Train. Aqua is a major international Earth Science satellite mission centered at NASA. Launched on May 4, 2002, the satellite has six different Earth-observing instruments on board and is named for the large amount of information being obtained about water in the Earth system from its stream of approximately 89 Gigabytes of data a day. The water variables being measured include almost all elements of the water cycle and involve water in its liquid, solid, and vapor forms. Additional variables being measured include radiative energy fluxes, aerosols, vegetation cover on the land, phytoplankton and dissolved organic matter in the oceans, and air, land, and water temperatures.

SMAP Mission

SMAP will provide global measurements of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state. These measurements will be used to enhance understanding of processes that link the water, energy and carbon cycles, and to extend the capabilities of weather and climate prediction models. SMAP data will also be used to quantify net carbon flux in boreal landscapes and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring capabilities.

Aquarius Mission

Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global Sea Surface Salinity. After its 2010 launch, it will provide the global view of salinity variability needed for climate studies. The Aquarius / SAC-D mission being developed by NASA and the Space Agency of Argentina (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, CONAE).