What's New

The following pages have been added to the site or revised since December 27, 2009:

Earth

      Global Atmospheric Circulation Model video
      Cyclonic and Anti-cyclonic Flow
      The Troposphere
      Air Pollution Affects Plants, Animals, and Environments
      Wind
      Beaufort Scale of Wind Speeds video
      Classification of Wind Speeds
      Earth's Interior
      Kingdom Animalia
      Kingdom Fungi
      Amphibian Die-offs Movie
      Aurora and THEMIS Satellite movie
      Geomagnetic Substorm Triggered by CME from Sun movie
      How Space Weather Affects Human Society
      How the Surface Ocean Moves: Ekman Transport
      The Ocean Biome
      Ocean Dead Zones movie
      Earth's Ocean
      Ocean Chemistry
      Surface Ocean Currents
      The Swirling Water of Ocean Eddies
      Motions of the Ocean
      Effects of Climate Change Today
      Earth's Greenhouse Gases
      Climate Model Accuracy and Uncertainty
      Earth's Greenhouse Effect
      Climate Model Grid movie
      Greenhouse Effect Movie - Scott Denning
      IPCC Scenarios Interactive
      Fertilizing the Earth with Nitrogen
      CMMAP - Studying Clouds and Climate
      What Is a Geologic Fault?
      Earthquake Testing movie
      What Is an Earthquake?
      Where Do Earthquakes Happen?
      Why Do Earthquakes Happen?
      Seismic Waves: Moving and Shaking During an Earthquake
      Greenhouse Effect
      Earth Plate Tectonics
      Undersea Volcano Eruption movie
      K-T Extinction (Why Did the Dinosaurs Go Extinct?)

Headline Universe

      Haiti Earthquake January 2010
      Aerosols in the Atmosphere: From Mexico to Japan, Finland to Switzerland, the Same Everywhere
      Living, Meandering River Constructed
      Global Ice Age Climate Patterns Influenced by Bering Strait
      Global Warming Causes Outbreak of Rare Algae in Caribbean Corals
      It’s Not Your Fault – A Typical Fault, Geologically Speaking, That Is
      Changing the Mississippi River Could Lead to New Land near New Orleans
      White Roofs May Successfully Cool Cities
      Unusual Explosion Sparks New Insight Into the Life of Stars

Multimedia Gallery

      Images & Multimedia

Newsletters

      Windows to the Universe Newsletter
      Windows to the Universe Newsletter

Olpa

      National Science Foundation Podcast Zone
      Videos from the National Science Foundation

Our Solar System

      Geminid Meteor Shower

Physical Science

      Highlighting the WTEC International Study of Robotics
      What is a Supercomputer?
      Universal Time
      Molecules Vibrate
      The Coriolis Effect
      What does falling have to do with keeping a satellite in orbit?
      The Heart of Satellite Orbits

Space Missions

      Phoenix Mars Lander - Instruments and Mission Objectives
      New Horizons Jupiter Flyby in February 2007

Space Weather

      Space Weather Image & Multimedia Gallery
      Sun and Space Weather Movie Gallery
      Space Weather Effects on Electrical Power Systems
      Modeling Space Weather

Sun

      HELIOSEISMOLOGY
      Model of a CME - Sun to Earth
      Solar Storms
      Magnetic Field Lines Tangle as Sun Rotates
      Active Regions on the Sun
      The Photosphere - the Surface of the Sun
      Sunspots and Magnetic Fields
      Sunspots
      Journey Beneath a Sunspot
      Coronal Mass Ejections
      Modeling Sunspots movie
      Sun Image Archive

Teacher Resources

      Windows to the Universe Activity
      Windows to the Universe Activity
      Changing Climate, Changing World: Tackling the Global Warming Challenge
      Introduction to Earth's Climate - Content Pages from Web-based Course

The Universe

      Scorpius

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Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

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Wind

Wind is moving air. Warm air rises, and cool air comes in to take its place. This movement creates different pressures in the atmosphere which creates the winds around the globe. Since the Earth spins,...more

Surface Ocean Currents

The water at the ocean surface is moved primarily by winds. Large scale winds move in specific directions because they are affected by Earth’s spin and the Coriolis Effect. Because Earth spins constantly,...more

Effects of Climate Change Today

The world's surface air temperature increased an average of 0.6° Celsius (1.1°F) during the last century according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This may not sound like very...more

Earth's Greenhouse Gases

Less than 1% of the gases in Earth's atmosphere are called greenhouse gases. Even though they are not very abundant, these greenhouse gases have a major effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O),...more

Accuracy and Uncertainty in Climate Models

How do researchers know whether a computer model of Earth’s climate is accurate? To test accuracy of a model, its results are compared to observed measurements. This is often done by comparing climate...more

Earth's Greenhouse Effect

Energy from the Sun can enter the atmosphere, but not all of it can easily find its way out again. This is a natural process called the greenhouse effect. Without any greenhouse effect, Earth’s temperature...more

Fertilizing the Earth with Nitrogen

Plants need nitrogen. It is a nutrient that allows them to grow larger and faster. Plants are not able to make use of the nitrogen gas in the atmosphere, two nitrogen atoms bonded together. It is not a...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA