A Year In The Life Of Earth's CO2

This high-resolution narrated video shows levels and movements of CO2 globally through the course of a year.

Modeling the Complexities of the Carbon Cycle Utilizing Excel

This set of activities is about carbon sources, sinks, and fluxes among them - both with and without anthropogenic components.

Images of CO2 emissions and transport from the Vulcan project

In this visualization, students can explore North American fossil fuel CO2 emissions at very fine resolutions of both space and time. The data is provided by the Vulcan emissions data project, a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program.

Atmospheric Carbon: Can We Offset the Increase?

This is a multi-step activity that helps students measure, investigate, and understand the increase in atmospheric CO2 and the utility of carbon offsets. It also enables students to understand that carbon offsets, through reforestation, are not sufficient to balance increases in atmospheric C02 concentration.

Arctic Tundra May Contribute to Warmer World

In this audio slideshow, an ecologist from the University of Florida describes the radiocarbon dating technique that scientists use to determine the amount of carbon within the permafrost of the Arctic tundra. Understanding the rate of carbon released as permafrost thaws is necessary to understand how this positive feedback mechanism is contributing to climate change that may further increase global surface temperatures.

The Buffer Zone: Acid-base Chemistry in the World

In this activity, students conduct a short hands-on demonstration that simulates ocean acidification resulting from excess atmospheric carbon dioxide and discuss potential implications of increases in ocean temperatures and acidification due to climate change.

Visualizing Carbon Pathways

This activity introduces students to visualization capabilities available through NASA's Earth Observatory, global map collection, NASA NEO and ImageJ. Using these tools, students build several animations of satellite data that illustrate carbon pathways through the Earth system.

From Mud to Molecules: What Deep Sea Sediments Can Tell Us About Past Climates

This video documents how scientists, using marine algae, can study climate change in the past to help understand potential effects of climate change in the future.

The Ecology of Climate Change

This video focuses on the conifer forest in Alaska to explore the carbon cycle and how the forest responds to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide. Topics addressed in the video include wildfires, reflectivity, and the role of permafrost in the global carbon cycle.

CO2 & the Atmosphere

This video is narrated by climate scientist Richard Alley. It examines studies US Air Force conducted over 50 years ago on the warming effects of CO2 in the atmosphere and how that could impact missile warfare. The video then focuses on the Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand; the glacier is used to demonstrate a glacier's formation, depth of snow fall in the past, and understand atmospheric gases and composition during the last Ice Age. Supplemental resources are available through the website.

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