Students compare real-time Earth and Mars measurements for temperature, wind speed, humidity and atmospheric pressure by accessing Internet-data resources from NASA.
National Mathematics Education Standards Activity 1: Make predictions about the current weather data in your area. Meteorologists often report the temperature, humidity, wind speed and barometric pressure. Make predictions about the current weather data in your area. 2. What do you think the current wind speed and direction is? _____________ 3. What do you think the barometric pressure is right now?________________ 4. How do you think the barometric pressure is changing? ________________ Go
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Activity
2:
The Internet is filled with scientific data about cities close to where you live. Use the WWW to find the current temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and barometric pressure in your area. Try the National Weather Service, The Weather Channel or Intellicast WWW sites first. You might even like to try Internet Weather-Cams. 2. What is the current wind speed and direction? _________________ 3. What is the current barometric pressure? _________________ 4. How is the barometric pressure changing? _________________ 5. How does this current
map (example
map) relate to the observations you recorded above?
6. How well do the Internet
data agree with your predictions of what you see outside?
7. What would you expect the
weather to be if the temperature was 85 degrees F, the wind 10 mph from
the West, and the barometric pressure is 30.15 inches and rising?
8. How would you characterize
a cloudy, cold, winter day using weather data?
Real-Time Weather Data from Mars Go
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Activity
3:
Similar measurements are being calculated for the planet Mars right now (Example Map). Fill in this chart by looking at the on-line maps linked below.
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