Browse Formal Resources

Subtopics:

Hydrologic Cycle, Precipitation, Water & Life, Energy Cycle

Type:

Audience:

Informal, Formal, General

Standards:

Keywords:

energy budget, radiation budget, oceans, atmosphere

Summary:

Explore how water moves across land and returns to the ocean in the final installment of the water cycle series. The visualizations illustrate the movement of water on land—from storage of precipitation in soil layers, to its transport via rivers.

The Water Cycle: Watering the Land

Primary Topic:

Subtopics:

Hydrologic Cycle, Precipitation, Weather, Energy Cycle

Type:

Audience:

Informal, Formal, General

Standards:

Keywords:

energy cycle, energy budget, radiation budget, water cycle, ocean, atmosphere, water vapor, condensation, clouds

Summary:

Explore how water droplets form and fall from the sky in part three of the water cycle series. Watch how water vapor moves through the atmosphere and returns to Earth as rain and snow.

The Water Cycle: Steaming the Air

Primary Topic:

Hydrologic Cycle, Earth Systems, Weather and Climate, Energy Cycle

Subtopics:

Type:

Audience:

Informal, Formal, General

Standards:

Keywords:

energy cycle, energy budget, radiation budget, water cycle, ocean, evaporation, atmosphere, water vapor

Summary:

Explore water vapor in the air in part two of the water cycle series. This second part of our series on the water cycle illustrates the way in which evaporation and winds combine to move water from the ocean to the land.

The Water Cycle: Heating the Ocean

Multiple Earth's showing different heat visualizations

Primary Topic:

Subtopics:

Earth Systems, Weather and Climate, Climate, Energy Cycle

Type:

Audience:

Informal, Formal, 9 - 12, 6 - 8

Standards:

Keywords:

cryosphere, ice, permafrost, sea ice, ocean currents, glaciers, satellites

Summary:

Explore the solar heating of the ocean in part one of a series on the water cycle. The animations show multiple views of the solar heating of the oceans, a picture of this first stage of water's cyclical journey from sea to air to land, and back again.

Water Vapor Animation

Primary Topic:

Subtopics:

Earth Systems, Climate, Energy Cycle

Type:

Audience:

Outreach, Informal, Formal, 9 - 12, 6 - 8

Standards:

ESS2.D

Keywords:

water vapor, clouds, heat, latent heat

Summary:

Water vapor - and with it energy - is carried around the globe by weather systems. This satellite image shows the distribution of water vapor over Africa and the Atlantic Ocean.

Animated Water Cycle

Primary Topic:

Hydrologic Cycle, Precipitation

Subtopics:

Type:

Interactive

Audience:

Outreach, Informal, Formal, K - 5

Standards:

ESS2.C

Keywords:

rain, water storage, clouds, vapor

Summary:

This flash animation takes viewers through four aspects of the water cycle: rain, water storage, vapor, and clouds.

NASA's Hurricane Hunters

Primary Topic:

Technology

Subtopics:

Tropical Cyclones, Remote Sensing

Type:

Weather and Climate, Remote Sensing

Audience:

Informal, Formal, 6 - 8, 9 - 12

Keywords:

airplane, aeronautics, UAV, Global Hawk, hurricane eye

Summary:

During the 2010 hurricane season, NASA deployed its piloted DC-8 and WB-57, and unmanned Global Hawk aircraft, arming hurricane researchers with the information needed to predict the growth and intensification of hurricanes.

Unmanned NASA Storm Sentinels set for Hurricane Study

Primary Topic:

Technology

Subtopics:

Type:

Article

Audience:

Informal, Formal, 6 - 8, 9 - 12

Keywords:

airplane, aeronautics, UAV, sensors, hurricanes

Summary:

NASA will dispatch two unmanned aircraft equipped with specialized instruments high above tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean basin. These "severe storm sentinels" will investigate the processes that underlie hurricane formation and intensity change.

The Environmental, Economic and Social Impact of Drought

Primary Topic:

Societal Applications

Subtopics:

Weather and Climate, Freshwater Resources

Type: