Extended Abstract (500K)4.1
Classroom Visualizations of Weather
Cecil S. Keen, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato, MN; and D. Christensen
Educators in weather have long been challenged to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of atmospheric behavior. It has been even more of a challenge to show and help students visualize patterns of weather in three and sometimes four (time) dimensions. In recent years computer technology and software packages have become economically affordable to enable the graphical presentation of weather in an interactive manner to be demonstrated. Environmental WorkBench™ (EWB) has been used to present a series of visualizations that greatly enhance the learning and understanding of weather interactions whereby surface data can be viewed along with upper air flow patterns. Satellite and radar overlays can be added to the picture and the entire loop can be seamlessly played showing the patterns through time and space. Educators can employ this tool as a stand-alone demonstration on a CD-Rom, or can invest in the program and use current data as input for demonstration purposes. This has been done at Minnesota State University as a classroom visualization of weather.
Supplementary URL: http://www.mnsu.edu/weather
Session 4, University Outreach Activities
Tuesday, 15 January 2002, 10:30 AM-3:30 PM
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