As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute Web seminar for educators on March 26, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. EDT.
Become familiar with the MY NASA DATA activity, “Solar Cell Energy Availability From Around the Country.” Compare monthly averages of downward radiation in locations around the U.S. and analyze areas where conditions would be conducive to having solar panels. Access data on the NASA Live Access Server as you “journey” around the U.S. to determine the amount of solar radiation and analyze overlay plots to compare data from NASA satellites.
This is the final time during the current school year this seminar will be offered.
For more information and to register online, visit the NSTA Learning Center.
Here’s an extension activity from the MY NASA DATA project that you might want to use in your meteorology class. In the lesson Tropical Atlantic Aerosols, students use real satellite data to determine where the greatest concentrations of aerosols are located during the course of a year in the tropical Atlantic region and their source of origin. They explore data and draw conclusions about aerosol transport and learn about the radiation budget’s effects of aerosols.
In this episode of NASA Now, you will learn what it’s like to study the atmospheres of other planets. We are approaching the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Dr. Kelly Fast, astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., discusses the reason for the seasons. Fast explains what an equinox is and whether or not other planets in our solar system have seasons.