General Useful Web-Based Sources

Earth Environments: Past, Present, and Future – Weblinks

Chapter 2 Structure and Composition of the Atmosphere

2.1 - Structure of the atmosphere

University of Cambridge Centre for Atmospheric Sciences Ozone Hole Tour http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour

Images of the Ozone hole.

US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration http://www.research.noaa.gov/climate.html

Site with archived and current climate data. Links to reports and publications on climate issues such as El Niňo and La Niňa; Global Carbon Cycle , the Ozone layer.

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research http://www.ucar.edu/learn

Provides an introduction to the Atmosphere: scientific properties, the climate system, the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer.

Meteorology Class Notes from Lyndon State College Meteorology Department http://www.apollo.lsc.visc.edu/classes/met130/notes

Website online textbook. Excellent comprehensive notes and diagrams on all aspects of meteorology.

American Meteorological Society Search Engine http://www.ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=index- html&ct=1&SESSID=cfab674c79c4214a5ed4f3b9306979 For all kinds of online journal articles on various aspects of atmospheric science.

Understanding the Atmosphere http://www.profhorn.aos.wisc.edu/wxwise/AckermanKnox/index.html

Animations and text to explain regional climate and weather processes.

2.2 – Energy in the Atmosphere

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Introduction to the Atmosphere http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_1_1.htm

2.3 – Moisture in the Atmosphere

UK Meteorological Office Teacher’s Resources (Hydrological Cycle) http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/teachers/lessonplan_ks3_hydrological_cycle.html

Science Daily: More moisture in atmosphere attributed to humans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090811091832.htm

2.4 – Atmospheric Motion

Local Winds http://www.tpub.com/content/aerographer/14312/css/1432_80.htm

A discussion of the winds caused by local cooling or heating, land and sea breezes, mountain winds, katabatic winds and monsoons.

Influence of landscape Structure on local and regional climate http://www.landscape.forest.wisc.edu/landscapeecology/Articles/v04i23p133.pdf Article by Pielke, R.A. and Avissar, R. (1990) using observational and modelling data to assess the relationship between the land surface and climate.

Hurricanes and Tropical Cyclones http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main.index.html

Many excellent hurricane links and resources.

Hurricane Intensity http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag/84.html

An article on the increase in hurricane intensity and natural variability and relevant hurricane web sites.

Hurricane Katrina http://www.cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/archive/2005/storms/katrina/katrina.html

Contains movies, images, storm track details and other information related to Hurricane Katrina.

Meteorology guide provided by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.ww2010.atmos.uiuc/edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/fw/home.rxml

Covers topics like forces affecting atmospheric circulation, processes of precipitation formation, weather forecasting.

Hurricane Research Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd

Information on the underlying mechanisms.

Global Circulation http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eal/Climate/Older/General_Circulation.html

An overview of atmospheric circulation cells. 2.5 – Weather Systems

Imagery and Animations http://www.earthobservatory.nasa

NASA Visible Earth http://www.visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_set.php?categoryID=108

Mid-latitude Cyclone http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7s.html

Gives an overview of cyclones, their development and the dynamics of frontal systems.

BBC Weather http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather

Understanding weather at BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding

UK Meteorological Office http://www.metoffice.gov.uk

Cairngorm Weather Station http://www.phy.hw.ac.uk/resrev/weather.htm

One of UK’s highest and longest running mountain weather stations. Online datasets, images, avalanche information. 2.6 – World Climates

Indian Ocean Monsoon from the Earth Space Research group at the Institute for Computational Earth Systems Science http://www.crsepo.ucsb.edu/esrg/10M2/Start2=10M.html

Decsribes what a monsoon is, the physical formation mechanisms and the uniqueness of the Indian Monsoon.

Heat Island group from Berkeley, California http://www.eetd.lbl.gov/HeatIsland

Description of the different causes of the urban heat island effect, mthods for its reduction and the use of current climate data.

Urban Climatology and Air Quality from NASA http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/urban

Project to investigate and model the urban heat island effect.

Urban heat Islands http://www.cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/heatisl.html

A description of the urban heat island effect and the factors that cause it.

2.7 – Ocean Circulation

El Niňo Tracking http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elnino

Information on this phenomenon and links to other useful sites.

El Niňo Theme page NOAA http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino-home.html Global and regional consequences of El Niňo events and the links to droughts and natural forest fires; monitoring of these events.

El Niňo and La Niňa from Environment Canada http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/educator/elnino/index_e.cfm http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/educator/lamina/index_e.cfm

Comprehensive discussion with time series animations.

El Niňo and La Niňa Watch from NASA http://www.topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino

Gives in depth sea surface temperature data represented in a time series of global satellite images during different oceanic conditions , for example during a strong La Niňa event or tracking the movement of a Kelvin Wave across the ocean.

Current Animations of SST and OLR from the NASA Climate Diagnostics Centre http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/map/clim/sst_olr/el_nin0_anim.shtml

Ocean Images from NASA Visible Earth http://www.visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_set.php?categoryID=817

Ocean images from satellite data, including ocean winds, circulation, temperatures and bathymetry.

North Atlantic Oscillation from Tiempo http://www.tiempocyberclimate.org/portal/datanao.htm

An explanation of the North Atlantic Oscillation and its effects.

2.8 – Atmospheric Evolution and Climate Change

Quaternary Palynology from the University of Arizona Department of Geosciences http://www.heo.arizona.edu/palynology/quat_pal.html

For a review of palynology dating techniques for Quaternary reconstruction.

Fossil and Surface Pollen Data Archives http://www.ncdc.noaa/gov/paleo/pollen.html

Dating Techniques from Minnesota State University http://www.mnsu.edu/museum/archaeology/dating/index.shtml

For relative and absolute dating; the preparation and application of each technique for Quaternary environmental reconstruction.

Coleoptera in Quaternary Studies from Colby College http://www.colby.edu/geology/Beetles.html

The use of fossil beetles in environmental reconstruction; value of coleopteran and other webservers.

Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info

Provides data and factsheets on a range of topics, including Global Temperature Record; Causes of Climatic Change; Climate Change Scenarios; Sea Level Rise; Volcanoes and their Effects on Climate.

2.9 – Principles of Climatic Change

BBC Climate Change website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/portal/climate_change/default.stm

Open University Climate Change website http://www.open2.net/climatechange/index.html UK Meteorological Office Guide to Climate Change http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/guide

Global climate change http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/index.html

Information, features and news releases.

Climate Change Science http://geochange.er.usgs.gov

Climate Impacts Research Centre, Abisko, Northern Sweden http://www.emg.umu.se/circ

United States Geological Survey http://www.usgs.gov/glocal change

For topics such as sea-level change, glacier and landscape change in response to a changing climate, permafrost, carbon sequestration, climate impact on species, health risks. http://www.usgs.gov/science/science.php?term=168

Greenhouse Gas Online http://www.ghgonline.org

For news and resources.

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre: climate change data and information analysis centre for US Department of Energy http://www.cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/emis/em_cont.html IPCC Reports http://www.ipcc.ch

At this website the various reports on climatic change can be downloaded.

Goddard Institute for Space Studies gives the recent history of global temperatures http://www.data.giss.nasa.gov/gikstemp

United Nations Environment Programme, including films e.g. melting glaciers and information on many aspects of environmental concerns http://www.unep/org

United Nations Framework Convention on Climatic Change http://www.unfccc.int/2860.php

Documents on climatic change topics, with information on international efforts to combat climate change leading up to the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen (7-18th December 2009), including the Bonn Climate Change talks in August 2009.

Climate Change Prediction, Institute of Physics http://www.iop.org/actvity/policy/Publications/file_4147_pdf

With an easy to read, well illustrated essay on Climate Change Prediction: a challenging scientific problem.

The Stern Report http://www.webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.hm- treasury.gov.uk/media/3/6/Chapter_1_The_Science_of _Climate_Change.pdf

Understanding Ice Ages at BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/understanding/iceage_01.shtml