Since its inception in 1998, the American Geological Institute (AGI) has organized Earth Science Week (ESW), an international event to help the public gain a better understanding of and appreciation for the Earth Sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. During each Earth Science Week, ESRI has supported AGI’s efforts through materials in the ESW packets such as software, posters, and curriculum.

What is GIS?

Why Use GIS to Study Earth Science

2011 Earth Science Week: Our Ever-Changing Earth

On our ever-changing Earth, conditions may change quickly or slowly. Some changes come from natural processes, some from human activity. Satellites allow us to see conditions and track changes over time -- in land use, forest health, land/water interface, and so on. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have been collecting data, using various portions of the visible and invisible electromagnetic spectrum, at a scale close enough to see highways, but not individual buildings on a city block. Assigning different colors to different combinations of wavelengths allows us to see particular patterns more clearly.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology allows us to match locations, integrate data, conduct analyses, and show change from place to place or time to time. These tools allow us to monitor vegetation health, such as identifying areas of drought stress or insect damage. We can find changes in land use, such as expansion of urban areas into what was farmland or even desert. Climate change can be seen in the retreat of glaciers, or even shifts in coastlines of low-lying regions. By combining imagery data with other layers of information such as roads, population, or land ownership, GIS allows us to see trends and develop strategies for addressing issues.

Geoscientists, foresters, water managers, and others in countless careers use GIS and its integrative nature to study and cope with issues of change. You can, too.

Curriculum:
      Explore Change Matters and GIS curriculum at ArcLessons
           ChangeMatters- Mount St. Helens
           Exploring 10 Landscapes w/ArcGIS Explorer Online
           Explore how change matters at the blog

Resources:
      Video: A new era for Landsat imagery
      The Change Matters Viewer

2010 Earth Science Week: Exploring Energy

“Exploring Energy,” the theme of Earth Science Week 2010, will engage young people and the public in learning about Earth's energy reources. Discover how GIS and map visualizations are used to better understand energy resources, utilization, and consequences. Links below provide dynamic connections to the GIS education lesson database, ArcLessons.

      Explore Energy and GIS curriculum at ArcLessons

      Why teach and learn with GIS and GPS? [YouTube]
      Sand Dunes processes 1: [YouTube]
      Sand Dunes processes 2: [YouTube]
      Of Caprocks, Erosion, and the Mancos Shale: [YouTube]
      Hiking through the chaparral biome: [YouTube]
      Hiking along the Continental Divide: [YouTube]
      Lava flow: [YouTube]
      River meanders: [YouTube]
      Red soils of Oklahoma: [YouTube]
      Benefits of Geocaching in Education: [YouTube]
      Sugar cane on Maui: [YouTube]

2009 Earth Science Week: Climate

The theme for this year’s ESW is “Understanding Climate.” In 2009-2010, Esri authored a climate lesson for the November calendar page (accessible below) and offers resources shared through these and other pages to help students of all ages understand climate through spatial analysis and the use of geotechnologies—Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and Remote Sensing.

With GIS, students investigate real issues that are critical to the world—on a daily basis. It is difficult to think of a topic that is as critical as climate. Climate underpins our agriculture, biodiversity, and our very civilization. GIS is a perfect tool for studying climate first because GIS was created to be an inquiry-based, problem-solving toolkit. Second, climatic variables are intricately tied to locations and affected by spatial relationships—mountains, ocean currents, depressions, vegetation, human impact, and much more. Through GIS, students use maps, satellite images, graphs, and databases that are focused on the question of “where,” to analyze patterns, trends, and influences, in the past, present, and future.