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The award-winning, Show Me Science series, is an excellent in-class, library or home schooling tool for introducing the wonders of science. Each title uses incredible visuals to help build a solid understanding of the scientific discipline behind the topic. The programs show everyday real–life application of the subject and how we are all affected by advancements in science and technology, often in ways we never realize. Show Me Science covers oceanography, animal life, astronomy, biology, chemistry, health science, earth science, technology, environmental sciences, physics and more. The Wonders of Oceanography series covers subjects from Coral Reefs, Sharks, Manatee's, Endangered Species, studying Dolphins to the Ocean tides. Produced in cooperation with an advisory board of top educators, curriculum specialists and administrators. Each progarm comes complete with an online teachers guide which includes subject matter revision and suggestions on how to present material, questions to ask students, career possibilities and class projects to help illustrate the key concepts.

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1. Meteorology - Studying Severe Weather

11m

Extreme weather events can cause widespread damage resulting in billions of dollars of losses. Recent events, such asblizzards, hurricanes, and droughts have been exceptionally devastating as a result of several environmental factors. The convergence of several weather systems and the right atmospheric conditions sometimes result in the "perfect storm." This issue examines the factors behind catastrophic weather. It explains El Niño and La Niña, which are instigators of many unusual climactic events around the globe. These phenomena impact ocean temperatures, wind patterns and other atmospheric conditions. Other intense storms, such as Hurricane Sandy, result from the interaction of low pressure systems, which affect the direction and strength of the storm.

2. Understanding Clouds - Meteorological Wonders

15m

Meteorologists studying the microphysical processes of clouds are learning more about what occurs naturally inside clouds. By increasing fundamental knowledge of complex cloud structure and the chemical and electrical mechanisms that trigger changes, weather and climate forecast models improve. Scientists and geophysicists are utilizing the newest technology to explore known and speculative information about cloud structures and mechanisms.

3. Drifting Desert Sands - Affecting The Weather

15m

Yellow clouds of nutrient-rich sand, iron particles and microscopic aerosols from the Sahara Desert blow north over Europe and west over the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. Meteorologists research the impact of 'desert clouds' to changes in climates, weather patterns and ecosystems. Desertification of forest lands and fertile agricultural areas increases the size and number of desert storms.

4. Meteorology - Predicting Dangerous Weather

17m

Violent weather touches thousands of lives, homes and businesses around the world each year. Billions of dollars are spent on cleanup and reconstruction. Climatologists and meteorologists at the Meteorological Alpine Project (MAP) are using specialized computer technology to discover how hot winds in the African desert develop into a damaging hail storm in the Swiss Alps.

5. Spring Water From The Sea

15m

Though 70% of Earth's surface is water, only approximately 2.5% is fresh water and in some places clean drinking water is scarce. After the discovery of a fresh water spring flowing deep in the Mediterranean Sea, scientists found a way to capture and deliver that valuable resource to the surface. Without depleting or damaging the ecosystem, they were able to engineer a device to harness this precious necessity.

6. Forest Farming

12m

Trees are an essential resource that we rely upon for a multitude of everyday needs. Meeting the world's increasing demands, while complying with conservation guidelines requires new arboriculture technology. From a computer at a sawmill, data - including desired tree length and diameter - is sent to harvesting machinery in the forest. Botanists are researching genetically manipulated (transgenic) trees to learn if they are suitable for integration into a natural environment.

7. Desert Sands - Dust From Africa

15m

Sand particles from the Sahara desert have long been known to travel across the Atlantic Ocean and southward to the Amazon rain forest in accumulations called 'dust carpets'. Water molecules adhere to the sand particles to form droplets that accumulate into clouds. The mineral-enriched water falls to earth in a downpour thereby nourishing the flora below. Mongolian desert dust carpets present problems for ecosystems upon which it falls. This program explores the science behind the storms and their impact on global climate.

8. Wetland Animals - Banded Stilts

15m

The Australian outback is home to a diverse group of organisms. When conditions are right, they play host to a distant, shoreline visitor – the Banded Stilt. Though common to the country's coasts and tidal shallows, this bird travels great distances inland in search of a particular food at its inland breeding grounds. Due to an environmental event, the mystery behind this behavior was only recently discovered and documented. Cyclone Bobby started a chain reaction by flooding a dry salt lake that, when wet, supports a variety of algae, bacteria, and the all important brine shrimp. We see how animal life, microscopic organisms and the ecosystem are interconnected for the survival of all three.

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SeriesShow Me Science

Closed CaptionsNo

Show Me Science: Earth Science Series

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