Download Water in the Earth System

EARTH WHEEL
Water in the Earth System
Page 1: Top wheel with wedge cutout.
Assemble your own Earth Wheel!
1) Print all 3 pages.
Wh
2) Cut out the blank “wedge” on this page (page 1). This is
the top wheel. The datasets on page 2 will display in this
“window” as the wheel is turned.
at
for
ms
of
wa
te
3) Punch a hole through the center (small brown circle) in
pages 1 and 2.
rc
an
yo
u
id e
nti
fy
on
4) Attach page 1 to page 2 (the bottom wheel) using a small
eyelet or brad (smallest size you can find — e.g., 3/16” —
can find at craft or office supply stores).
Ea
r th
’s
s
ur f
ac
e?
n surface have hig
h salinity in some
areas, and low salin
ity in others?
e?
lac
p
o
et
lac
p
r om
ry f
a
v
rns
a t te
p
tio n
pita
i
c
pr e
u ld
t so
ig h
Wh
ym
o
yw
Wh
me
la
s e a nd a
s on r e a s
a l w ha
ate ve d
r st ram
or a
ge? atic c
ha
ng e
s in
Why would the ocea
5) Page 3 (the back of the bottom wheel) can be glued to the
back of page 2. It includes additional information about the
images and the satellites that collected this data.
Blue Marb
le
+ Bathyme Next G
tored
a te r s
e ct
t of w
n
es refl
e
g
n
em
.
cha
ark red
mov gravity
d
e
in
n
l
th
ona , as show
ap
s
a
m
e
in
o
h t year, s er Bas
ug
no
f a on Riv
e
o
az
ely
rse
c i s c o u e Am
pre the gh th
y
r
it
ve
rou
av
gr e. O d th
e
fr ac cycl
ter
30 0
GR ACE
in Land W • Seaso
a t er S
t o r ag n a l C h a
e ( m nge
m) s
0
e
d To nerat
p og
i
r a p on
hy
C lo
fro udis e m a free
xp yea im
o s r ag
e d of e
lan m
d
ated
en cre
ve be own
r, ha
br
colo plants, 2004.
r
d
rue
i n t e s a n . O cto b e
ow
ace tre
urf are e is sn
it
’s s as
rth are wh
Ea e e n e a n,
i ng . G r i s o c
o w ta
s h d a lu e
s, hly e, b
t
on rfac
su
GR
A
bel C E m
o
e
the w an asu
re
d
lar
g e o n E s Ea
am
art
r
ou
h th’
nt ’s s s
of
u
wa
t r y an
most
had the
areas
blue
ropical
t
k
r
g
a
in
r
.D
asu
sion
r, me
er 2012.
M is
u at o
. Octob
ring
’s eq
area )
h
u
y
t
s
r
a
r
a
a
g
M e ne a r E tu d e s (
fa l l
s
at i
ain
rbit igher l
R
o
l
a
h
M
pic
R M in the
Tro st. T
a
t h e l e a t d at
e
c
m
fro d th colle
ata s ha n’t
s
rea doe
M
Aquar
34
g)
37
( g/ k
36
Sea Surfacius
e Salin
ity
25 32 33
35
38
40
Oc
Sa
l
s a i n it y
l
i ni
ty i s a m
a
e r t t h ea
to b
20 e s su
re
12
u
.
(g rfac
/kg e
=
nt low
prese
ce.
ue re t the surfa
a
n bl
as i salinity )
Are
h
te r
a n . nt h i g f s e a w a
o ce
se ram o
pre
g
the
in ge re er kilo
n
alt
p
ora salt
ds
lve dark lved
so
o
dis s in d i s s
rea of
, a am s
gr
Page 2: Bottom wheel, front. Attach to
top wheel in the center.
of
EARTH WHEEL
20 0
20 0
1.0
10
100
To
t
a
l
M
o
n
t
h
ly Rain
fall
TRMM
( mm
)
0
Thi
s im
a
r
a
g
i
e
n
fa
wa
a n d ll ; w
sc
h it
re
su
b
tro e to ated
p
pic
u
a l ale g s ing
rai
re
d
n
f
all e n a
.T
RM
EARTH WHEEL
Page 3: Bottom wheel, back. Can be
glued to the back of page 2.
Blue Marble Next Generation + Topography
and Bathymetry • This image shows how the
Earth’s surface would look from space if our world
had no clouds and no atmosphere. It’s part of a set
of images taken from NASA’s Terra satellite, with
one “blue marble” composite image created for
each month in 2004. Clouds were removed from the
satellite image to show the maximum land surface.
Bathymetry (ocean depth) and topography data were
added to the satellite image, and are not observations
from space. Image Credit: NASA’s Earth Observatory.
Aquarius/SAC-D • This joint US-Argentina mission measures
the amount of salinity (dissolved salt) in the ocean surface. Salinity is key
to studying the water cycle and ocean circulation, both of which are related to climate. Over decades, the amount of salt in ocean basins has
been fairly stable. The water cycle operates on much faster time scales,
however, causing changes in salinity patterns. Salinity decreases when
freshwater enters the ocean from rivers, melting ice, rain, and snow.
Processes that cause freshwater to exit the ocean—such as evaporation and formation of sea ice— raise salinity. Differences in dissolved
salt content also play a major role in moving seawater, and the heat it
carries, around the globe. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
TRMM • This image was created using data from
the US-Japanese Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission
(TRMM). It shows how much rain fell in the world’s
tropical regions during October 2012. Dark blue
areas show where a lot of rain has fallen. Areas that
are white to pale green had the lowest amounts of
rain. In 2014, NASA and the Japanese Space Agency
launched the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)
satellite mission. GPM will provide the next-generation
observations of rain and snow worldwide every three
hours. Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
Explore Water in
Our Earth System
Water moves continuously between our
atmosphere, ocean and land. Flip to the other
side and turn the wheel to explore some of
the ways NASA scientists study water in our
global Earth system. What connections can you
find? See below for suggested answers to the
questions on the front. Did you find others?
DISCOVER Earth’s Connected
Systems through NASA images, data,
activities and resources:
KNOW YOUR EARTH: Test your
knowledge of the water cycle!
http://bit.ly/WaterCycleQuiz
http://bit.ly/NASAEarthSystem
Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NP-2014-06-1028-HQ
ANSWER KEY
(GRACE) is a joint U.S.-German mission. GRACE consists
of two spacecraft flying in formation around the planet
to measure tiny differences in Earth’s gravity field over
time. From this data, scientists can map seasonal
gravity changes associated with changes in the
amount of water stored on and below the ground.
The largest variations over the course of a year
occur in northern South America. Each year,
between September and April, seasonal rains
deliver large amounts of water to this region,
followed by a drier period during which the
amount of water decreases again. Image
Blue Marble •
Earth truly is the water
planet, with over 70% of Earth’s
surface covered by blue ocean. You
can also see white bands of snow near
the poles. Aquarius Salinity • A band of low
salinity (blue) is seen along the equator. In the
Pacific Ocean, low salinity is tied to tropical rainfall.
The plume off the east coast of South America shows fresh
water from the Amazon River flowing into the Atlantic. To the
northeast, the large area of high salinity (orange) shows where
evaporation leaves behind large amounts of dissolved salt. TRMM
Precipitation • The tropics generally have more precipitation than
other regions, shown in blue. This is because equatorial latitudes receive
much more direct solar energy than higher latitudes, producing more
evaporation. The warm, moist air rises, condenses into clouds, and falls back
to Earth as rain. GRACE Seasonal Land Water Storage • This image shows
how water stored below and on Earth’s surface changes over time. The dark red
area in South America represents the large amount of water cycled through the
Amazon River Basin, for example, between rainy and dry seasons. During certain
times, much of this fresh water flows into the Atlantic Ocean and lowers salinity.
GRACE • The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment