Earth Science Resources
Compiled by Steven Schafersman, Ph.D.
Earth and Space Science EducatorDLESE • Digital Library for Earth System Education
The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) is a community effort involving educators, students, and scientists working together to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of teaching and learning about the Earth system at all levels. DLESE supports Earth system science education by providing: Access to high-quality collections of educational resources; access to Earth data sets and imagery, including the tools and interfaces that enable their effective use in educational settings; support services to help educators and learners effectively create, use, and share educational resources; communication networks to facilitate interactions and collaborations across all dimensions of Earth system education.EarthScope applies modern observational, analytical and telecommunications technologies to investigate the structure and evolution of the North American continent and the physical processes controlling earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It provides a foundation for fundamental and applied research throughout the United States that will contribute to the mitigation of risks from geological hazards, the development of natural resources, and the public's understanding of the dynamic Earth.CIESIN • Center for International Earth Science Information Network
The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) is a center within the Earth Institute at Columbia University. CIESIN works at the intersection of the social, natural, and information sciences, and specializes in on-line data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment.TERC • Earth and Space Science Links
Earth and space science education is a key area of science endeavor at TERC. We help schools use the power of remote sensing, images, and visualizations to engage students in inquiry-based learning. Many of the projects, products, and publications are associated with the Center for Earth and Space Science Education (CESSE) at TERC (below).CESSE • Center for Earth and Space Science Education
The Center for Earth and Space Science Education (CESSE) is one of the world's leading research and development centers for pre-college Earth and space science education. Its mission is to transform science education from "reading about science" to highly engaging and exploratory experiences in which students "do science" by investigating and exploring the Earth around them and the universe beyond. CESSE's staff features scientists, educators, curriculum developers, technologists, and cognitive psychologists. Much of our work is funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA. Major areas of focus include inquiry-based learning; engaging students in authentic science research; student access to data and images; computer-based visualization tools; and collaborations among students, teachers and scientists around the world. Our materials are used in thousands of classrooms worldwide.Earth Web Resources • Links to many earth system science web resources.
Explore the World of Earth Science
The Exploring Earth Project contains investigations and visualizations that use animations, interactive graphics, and unique imagery to help students gather information about a particular Earth science theme, issue, or concept. For each investigation, students examine a sequence of Web pages on which they manipulate graphics or interpret image data. The pages contain background text and questions to help guide students' thinking. Many of the investigations end with a page of Web links for further investigation. The site was designed to accompany Earth Science, a high school textbook authored by Spaulding and Namowitz and published by McDougal Littell. The Web site was developed by TERC, a non-profit educational research and development firm; funding was provided by the National Science Foundation.A site developed by the American Geological Institute to promote Earth Science. The site contains an ImageBank, an Interactive Geological Time Scale, information about careers in the Earth Sciences, Earth Science Week, an Earth Data Bank, Earth Book Center, and much else.Earth Science World Image Bank • Contains photographs of all aspects of Earth Science available to the public, educators, and the geoscience community.
Earth Science Week • The American Geological Institute has organized this national and international event to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the Earth Sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year's Earth Science Week will be held from October 10-16, 2004, and will celebrate the theme Living on a Restless Earth.
Revolution in Earth and Space Science Education
Executive Summary: Earth and space science education is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Long perceived as a "minor" science (in contrast with physics, chemistry and biology), Earth and space science is emerging in both public perception and active science research as a profoundly important field. Our lives and future depend on the depth of our understanding of our home planet. The concept of Earth as a rich and complex system of interconnected components and processes has become a dominant paradigm in science. Furthermore, the Space Age has provided a revolutionary new perspective on Earth, enabling us to see, explore and investigate our world in ways never before possible.The National Science Education Standards underscore this transformation through a strong emphasis on "Earth and Space Science" as a core domain of science education at all grade levels. The Standards recommend that students experience Earth and space science as a process of inquiry, exploration and discovery. This is an ideal domain for inquiry, as the "lab" is all around us, inviting exploration. Students should also tap into the power of telecommunications and visualization technologies to see the world from the unique perspective of space and use a wide range of data - just as scientists do. NASA, USGS, NOAA and other agencies have opened their treasure trove of satellite imagery, animations, interactive maps and other visualizations for ready access by schools and the general public. The Internet helps students see how Earth's forces affect their daily lives and provides direct access to news of Earth and space science and links for further exploration. These experiences help students understand Earth as a dynamic system - rather than simply a collection of topics to read about.
Declaration of Importance: "As our nation deliberates on education policy and funding, we, as leading scientific educators and scientists, call for legislators, decision makers, and stakeholders to implement all measures that support science education in general and earth and space science in particular. Fueled by new technologies over the last 40 years, advances in Earth and space science are revolutionizing our understanding of Earth's systems and processes. This growing understanding is increasingly need to inform political and economic decisions of local, national and global impact. For this reason, a science-literate citizenry is vital to the nation's well-being and security and will insure our nation's continued leadership in science and technology in the 21st century. To empower the public to make sound and reasoned choices, earth and space science must be taught throughout the United States in K-12 classrooms and be accessible to all students."
American Geological Institute Geoscience Education
Founded in 1948, AGI serves its member societies and the geoscience community of more than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth and environmental scientists. AGI provides information services, serves as a voice of shared interests in our profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public understanding of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources and interaction with the environment.AGI provides professional and information services related to government affairs; earth-science education, outreach, human resources, and scholarships; the bibliographic database, GeoRef, and its Document Delivery Service; and the monthly newsmagazine, Geotimes, and other publications.
Geotimes Archives by TopicNational Association of Geoscience Teachers
The National Association of Geoscience Teachers was established in 1938. Its purpose is to foster improvement in the teaching of earth sciences at all levels of formal and informal instruction, to emphasize the cultural significance of the earth sciences and to disseminate knowledge in this field to the general public. NAGT publishes the Journal of Geoscience Education.National Earth Science Teachers Association
NESTA is a nonprofit educational organization, founded in 1983, whose purpose is the advancement, stimulation, extension, improvement, and coordination of Earth Science education at all educational levels. NESTA publishes the journal The Earth Scientist.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science website devoted to understanding and protecting our home planet. This site contains an immense amount of Earth Science information and resources, including sites devoted to Teaching Earth Science, Earth Science Enterprise, Science of the Earth System, and much else.Teaching Earth Science • Earth Science has an essential role in NASA's education mission to inspire the next generation of explorers. The Earth System Science concept pioneered by NASA is changing how Earth science research is conducted, the way it is taught at elementary through post-graduate levels, and the way it is presented to the public by the media and informal learning communities. NASA's Earth Science Education Program systematically extends NASA's results in Earth system science and the development of remote sensing and geospatial technologies to support national priorities for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The program sponsors educational activities at all levels of formal and informal education to provide opportunities for learners to investigate Earth system processes using unique NASA resources as they progress through the academic pipeline and continue on their individual paths of lifelong learning.
Earth Science Enterprise • NASA research yields information about Earth's land, atmosphere, ice, oceans and life that is obtainable in no other way. Global changes require global-scale observations and models, and many regional and local changes are only truly understood when seen in their global context. Research conducted by the Earth Science Enterprise advances the interdisciplinary field of Earth system science and contributes to NASA's mission to understand and protect our home planet. Improving life on planet Earth is foremost in NASA's Vision, and the central work of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. NASA research yields information about Earth's land, atmosphere, ice, oceans and life that is obtainable in no other way. The Earth Science Enterprise plays a vital role in three key challenges facing America and the world today: climate change, homeland security, and educating the next generation of explorers.
Science of the Earth System • NASA's goal in Earth Science is to observe, understand, and model the Earth system to discover how it is changing, to better predict change, and to understand the consequences for life on earth. We do so by characterizing, understanding, and predicting change in major Earth system processes and by linking our models of these processes together in an increasingly integrated way.
Earth Science For Kids Only • Earth Science activities and resources for kids.
Earth From Space • A dataset of selected astronaut-acquired imagery of Earth. The NASA Space Shuttle Earth Observations Photography database of images is a national treasure. We are publishing these selected photos and related captions on the Internet to provide a glimpse of this national treasure to the public. This database was compiled by our staff to illustrate some very interesting Earth features and processes, including cities as seen by our Astronauts from space.
JSC Digital Image Collection • This collection of more than 9000 NASA press release photos spans the American manned space program, from the Mercury program to the STS-79 Shuttle mission. The site includes both a full text search and a simple browse tool to help you find the photos you're looking for.
The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth • The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth from 1961 through the present. This is the place to search the complete collection of astronaut photos of Earth.
NASA's Planetary Photojournal • Photographs of the planets, moons, and asteroids in our solar system by spacecraft and telescopes; Earth is included.
NASA Image Exchange (NIX) • Search for NASA multimedia.
Remote Sensing Data Portal • Earth Science animations and visualizations.
A NASA-sponsored program that provides stunning, high quality photographs of Earth taken from the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Since 1996, ISS EarthKAM students have taken thousands of photographs of Earth by using the world wide web to direct a digital camera on select space flights and currently on the International Space Station.Geomorphology From Space • A Global Overview of Regional Landforms
Geomorphology From Space is an out of print 1986 NASA publication designed for use by the remote sensing science and educational communities to study landforms and landscapes. The core of this book is a gallery of space imagery consisting of 237 plates, each treating a geographic region where a particular landform theme is exemplified. Commentary, photographs, locator maps, and sometimes a geologic map accompany each plate.NOAA's Operational Significant Event Imagery
The OSEI team produces high-resolution, detailed imagery of significant environmental events which are visible in remotely-sensed data available at the NOAA Science Center. The events include dust storms, fires, floods, icebergs, ocean events, snow cover, storms, tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons, volcanoes, and others.Earth Today • A Digital View of Our Dynamic Planet
Earth Today is a new exhibition of the National Air and Space Museum. This web site provides a quick look at the information presented in the Earth Today exhibit as well as links to many of the near real-time data sets used to study the Earth. The ability to see Earth from space has forever changed our view of the planet. We are now able to look at the Earth as a whole, and observe how its atmosphere, oceans, landmasses, and life interact as global systems. Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere are dynamic, changing on timescales of days, minutes, or even seconds. Monitoring the Earth in near real time allows us to get an up to date picture of conditions on our planet.Online satellite imagery of the Earth for sale. TerraServer.com has positioned itself as the leading imagery portal. They aim to be the one-stop site for aerial and satellite imagery. They have pulled together imagery from many different sources under one consolidated website. TerraServer.com does not itself take the pictures, but built alliances with many of the companies that do. TerraServer.com has an interactive website that allows the customer to search for and select the area that they want without having to buy expensive CDs of large areas. TerraServer.com allows anyone, anywhere to view all of our available imagery for FREE at a level of 8 meter resolution and above. Subscribers to the site may go down to the maximum resolution available for each image source, which typically ranges between 6 inches and 2 meters in areas with high resolution imagery.United States Geology Survey • The country's foremost government geological agency.
USGS GeologyDirectoryScience - Earth Sciences • The comprehensive online science directory designed to help its users find the online science sources, companies, products, services, and information.
Earth Science Guide • High School Hub.
Earth Science and Map Library • The Earth Science library at the University of California-Berkeley contains many resources, including links to websites.
Internet Resources in the Earth Sciences • Web links.Earth Science Resources • Presented by the Franklin Institute Online.
Geology and Earth Science on the Web • Geology and Earth Science links and resources site developed by Dr. William Connelly of Farmington, NM.
Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences • The University of Cambridge, England, United Kingdom.
Texas Earth Science Alliance By Steven Schafersman Last updated: 2012 January 5