Engaging students with geographical data to understand scientific topics has long been an integral goal of Earth science education. Today's virtual globe technology provides a common application for merging, manipulating, and overlaying environmental satellite data with other types of data. The 2008 AccessData workshop, hosted by TERC and UCAR in Portland, OR, provided a forum for Earth science data providers, data access and analysis tool experts, scientists, curriculum developers, and educators to work together to explore and address issues regarding data use. Each team was responsible for developing and creating an Earth Exploration Toolbook (EET) activity.

In this presentation we will describe one such activity, which was designed to examine the conditions influencing the formation, strengthening and weakening of Atlantic Ocean-based hurricanes during two or more hurricane seasons. The EET was designed around a series of layers that the student can select, manipulate and animate in Google Earth to better understand how interactions with environmental conditions influence hurricane development. For example, animation of an entire season of hurricane tracks overlaid with the coincident satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) provides graphical insight into how just a few degrees difference one way or another can lead to rapid change in the hurricane intensity. For more information on hurricanes and virtual globes, visit Google Earth Imagery at the University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center (http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/media/spotlight/google-earth.htm) and NRL-Monterey tropical cyclones (http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html).