NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

Produced by the Teacher at Sea Alumni Association offsite link and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation offsite link, these videos feature unique stories of how teachers have found and nurtured their inner explorer.

This exciting series explores environmental DNA or “eDNA”,  environmental DNA sampling technology developed at NOAA AOML, and an at home, hands-on activity for DNA extraction. Engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate (5 E’s) the concept of environmental DNA by including the “Exploring Environmental DNA” video series in classroom lessons. The videos follow a flexible format that can be watched in order or individually, as needed, to supplement an entire lesson or lesson segment, classroom discussion, and activity. Suggested lesson ideas are included below the videos.

Specially equipped NOAA aircraft play an integral role in hurricane forecasting. Data collected during hurricanes by these high-flying meteorological stations help forecasters make accurate predictions during a hurricane and help hurricane researchers achieve a better understanding of storm processes, improving their forecast models. Get started learning about the NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft and pilots!

GOES-T will track destructive wildfires, lightning, Pacific Ocean-based storms, dense fog, and other hazards that threaten the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska. It will also monitor solar activity and space weather to provide early warnings of disruptions to power grids, communications and navigation systems. 

NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) has transitioned a new computer model into operations to increase its understanding of space weather events and improve space weather forecasting capabilities. These advances will help forecasters provide better information to the public about potential impacts from a solar storm and help mitigation actions across economic sectors, including communications, satellite and airline operations, human space flight, and navigation and surveying.

As Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano began to erupt on January 15, 2022, it sent more than tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean — some forms of communications in the region were sent into the dark, too. The eruption broke an underwater communications cable, leaving most of the island nation without internet access and other forms of communication.

This 3D printable model shows the Jason 1 satellite. The satellite was decommissioned in 2013 and NOAA is now on the Jason 3 mission. Jason 1 was an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, study the ties between the oceans and atmosphere, improve global climate forecasts and predictions, and monitor events.

This 3D print file allows you to explore a POES satellite. The POES project instruments provide critical operational climate data that is integrated into the weather prediction model used in developing current and extended weather forecasts.

This 3D printable model allows you to see a miniature GOES satellite. GOES satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis. They circle the Earth in a geosynchronous orbit, which means they orbit the equatorial plane of the Earth at a speed matching the Earth's rotation. This allows them to hover continuously over one position on the surface. The geosynchronous plane is about 35,800 km (22,300 miles) above the Earth, high enough to allow the satellites a full-disc view of the Earth.

Join NOAA Explorer Debi Blaney as she shares NOAA scientists' groundbreaking discoveries, and how to watch one of their expeditions live.