Students simulate the process of remote sensing by using common materials to represent Earth’s different ground coverings and a light meter to represent satellite instruments. The concept of albedo and its importance in Earth’s radiation budget... (View More) are introduced. The lesson uses the 5E instructional model and is part of the book, "Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum." (View Less)

This activity demonstrates optical properties of water: that different constituents in water affect the transmission, absorption, and scattering of different colors in the visible light spectrum. Inexpensive, off-the-shelf components are used to... (View More) build a light sensor and source, creating a simple spectrophotometer that can measure light absorption. In the second part of this activity, principles of ocean color remote sensing are applied to measure reflectance. Using components that are clearly visible allows students to configure them in different ways. Playing with the instrument design gives students a practical understanding of spectrophotometers, in-water optics, and remote sensing. As an extension of this concept, students are encouraged to think about how ocean color is used to estimate the concentration of chlorophyll to infer phytoplankton abundance, colored dissolved organic matter, and suspended sediments. (View Less)

Learners will use an inexpensive, simple spectrophotometer to test how light at different visible wavelengths (blue, green, red) is transmitted, or absorbed, through four different colored water samples. Clear water is used as the “control,”... (View More) characterizing the light source and normalizing the other samples. The blue water represents the open ocean water with few plants—conditions you might find far from land in the middle of the ocean. The green water represents productive water with a high concentration of phytoplankton, i.e., a phytoplankton bloom. The tea water represents coastal water or river outflow that contains decaying organic material such as leaves. (View Less)

Using the 5E instructional model, students discover the value of using color maps to visualize data. The activity requires students to create a color map of the ozone hole from Dobson data values derived from the Aura satellite. Students then... (View More) interpret that map and compare and evaluate different color scales. Note that this is the Spanish version of Exploring Color Maps: Using Stratospheric Ozone Data. (View Less)