NPOESS Activity Book

For complete lesson plans or more information on NPOESS, please visit our website at: www.npoess.noaa.gov

Have fun while learning about the next generation of weather satellites! This fun-filled activity book contains exciting games and puzzles as well as interesting facts. Activities and illustrations created by Erica Handleman and Jane Whitcomb, GD Feb 07. JDW Answers

What Type of Cloud am I? Crossword Puzzle 1. Cirrus 2. Cumulus 3. Stratus There is a saying in New England that goes “If you don’t like ___Across____ _ Down____ 3. Global 1. Data the weather, just wait an hour and it will change.” While this Secret Message 4. Measurements 2. Sensors is a bit of an exaggeration on most days there, it is true that NPOESS remotely senses the… 5. Earth 5. Environment the weather does change. But more than just the weather, environment from space 6. National 8. Particles 7. Storm 11. Orbit the environment in which we live is also changing. NPOESS Jumble 9. Atmosphere 11. Observe 1. STORM 2. LAND 3. WIND 10. Weather Satellites, circling over 800 kilometers above the earth, help 4. CLOUDS 5. OCEAN 6. MOISTURE 12. Climate us to detect and monitor weather changes; not just the 13. Satellite changes we see daily, but also the less obvious changes to our Hidden Birds environment. The National Polar-orbiting Operation Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is the future This is the NPOESS system that will provide this data. that is different

NPOESS is a joint effort between the Department of 6 Defense, the Department of Commerce (NOAA), and NASA. These three Government agencies have come to work together to create the next-generation weather satellite system. This future satellite system will remotely sense the environment from space. It will obtain a lot more information than the current satellites and be able to transmit that information much quicker than ever before. Sudoku Word Search

In this package, we have included some games and puzzles and what we hope are fun ways to learn about satellites in general, NPOESS, and the environment.

Our goal is not only to help the students learn about these topics, but also to help make science a bit more fun and to turn you on to the wonders of the world in which we live.

1 14 What is the NPOESS NPOESS JUMBLE Instrument Sensing? Unscramble the letters to create a new word

Cloud Base Ocean Characteristics Height O S T M R

Wind Speed and Direction MIS (Microwave Imager/Sounder) detects D A L N ocean characteristics, wind speed and wind direction.

Vegetation Index The APS (Aerosol Polarimeter Sensor) instrument measures N D W I the amount of moisture or ice crystal formation within a cloud.

The VIIRS C D U S O L (Visible/Infrared Cloud Particle Size Imager/Radiometer Suite) instrument will determine how deep and wide the clouds are either day or night. N C O E A

VIIRS will also see how much vegetation is growing on earth. I S U E R T O M

Get Stuck? Answers can be found on page 14 13 2 SODOKU

It takes excellent math skills to become an aerospace engineer and work on satellites. Math can be fun. It’s a bird. It’s a Try to solve the puzzle below: plane. Oh, wait, it’s NPOESS!

The object of this game is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in each of the empty cells so that each row, each column, and each 3X3 block contains all the numbers from one to nine. Hint: It is possible to determine the content of a single cell by taking account of the other numbers in the row, column, and 3X3 box in which it appears. That will help you identify the only number that must appear in that cell.

Remember: Have fun and NEVER guess!

Get Stuck? Answers can be found on page 14 3 12 NPOESS CROSSWORD PUZZLE ICEBERG MAZE

NPOESS VIIRS and MIS instruments can identify sea ice breaking away to WORDS form icebergs. Help the NPOESS DATA locate the newly-formed iceberg by EARTH maneuvering through the maze. SENSORS STORM ENVIRONMENT WEATHER PARTICLES CLIMATE SATELLITE NATIONAL GLOBAL MEASUREMENTS ORBIT OBSERVE ATMOSPHERE

ACROSS

3. AROUND THE TOTAL EARTH 4. WHEN COOKING, YOU USE ______TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH INGREDIENTS GO INTO THE BOWL 5. WE LIVE ON PLANET______6. THE ______ANTHEM DOWN 7. RAIN AND LIGHTNINING ARE PARTS OF A ______1. NUMBERS USED FOR WEATHER 9. AIR AROUND THE EARTH PREDICTIONS 10. STORMS, RAIN, SNOW, AND 2. BUG’S ANTENNAE ARE USED AS WIND ARE DIFFERENT TYPES ______OF______5. THE SOIL, CLIMATE, AND LIVING THINGS 11. TO STUDY AND LOOK OVER ARE ALL PART OF OUR ______SOMETHING 8. A VERY SMALL PART OF MATTER SUCH AS 12. WEATHER CONDITIONS IN A MOLECULES OR ATOMS PARTICULAR REGION OVER A 11. THE EARTH CIRCLING AROUND THE SUN PERIOD OF TIME IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT 13. ______DISH FOR TELEVISION RECEPTION Get Stuck? Answers can be found on page 14 11 4 WHAT TYPE OF CLOUD AM I?

Write the name of the cloud on the dotted line 52 51 57 53 54 58 56 55 61 64 60 50 59 Clouds can help forecasters tell what type of weather can be expected for 65 49 66 62 1 47

the next day or two at their location. NPOESS will send images of clouds 63 48 67 45 from around the world so forecasts can be made for any spot on the Earth. 44 46 42 43 41 40 68 38 39 34 35 37 36 33 69 71

1.) 70 72 31 32 30 73 29 74 27

______28 75 26 25 76 23 24 22 77 2.) 21 19 20 78 8 17 18 16 12 15 9 10 1 13 11 14 ______7

3.) 6 2

______5

Clouds come in three basic shapes: 3 Cumulus: heaped and puffy clouds

Cirrus: light, wispy clouds Connect the Dots to Find Out What Is Detecting the Earth’s Weather Patterns.

Stratus: layered clouds 4

5 10 FIND THE HIDDEN NOAA NPOESS WORD SEARCH SEABIRDS NPOESS can detect all of the words in the box below. Find the words in the word search from the box below .

I A G S O V T I A S E T D E N S I T Y E E L O N E O I A T R F V A S O E W A T E R H A L E R A N I O I N A W G L O B A L E Z B A I S C I O O E U L O R C N I S C L P D E S N O I T A T E G E V S R E V R O T I N O M L E O L A R O R U A N P N R N P S U T Y Y E E T N I T Y P H O O N G B A H F

WORDS

ICE AURORAL RAIN LIGHTS DENSITY MONITOR SNOW FIRES NPOESS TYPHOON NPOESS will scan the environment and the earth. FLOODS ORBITING VEGETATION GLOBAL OZONE WATER You can scan this picture with your eyes and, HURRICANE PARTICLES WAVES if you look carefully enough, you can spot 9 POLAR hidden NOAA sea birds. Get Stuck? Answers can be found on page 14 9 6 FIND THE NPOESS THAT’S NPOESS CRYPTOGRAM DIFFERENT FROM THE REST Use the Chart Below to Decode the Secret Message

4 ______1 A C E F I M N

______O P R S T V 5 Write the letters below the matching symbol to find the secret 2 message.

______

6 3 ______

______

Get Stuck? The answer can be found on page 14 7 8 Get Stuck? Answers can be found on page 14