LibGuides: Meteorology: Media

Featured Streaming Media

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Atmosphere, Climate, and Weather (26:00) People everywhere are interested in the weather, but how does it all work? Beginning with Earth’s atmosphere—its evolution, its gaseous composition, and its four regions—this video takes a close look at how conditions combine to create climate and weather. Topics include the Köppen Climate Classification System; weather prediction; types of clouds and precipitation; thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes; and weather patterns such as El Niño and La Niña. A viewable/printable instructor’s guide is available online.
Clouds and Patterns of the Weather (21:00) Whether studied from the ground, from within Earth’s atmosphere, or from orbiting satellites, clouds provide useful information about emerging weather patterns. They often have a direct impact on those patterns as well. This program examines the atmospheric conditions that cause clouds to form in the troposphere and the factors that make them either retain or disperse water. Viewers learn about cloud composition and how air masses collect atmospheric moisture; how and why stratus, cumulus, and cirrus patterns occur; how cloud types are also parsed into ten groups of low-, middle- or high-altitude status; and how clouds move, change in temperature, and give way to condensation.
Earth From Space (120:00) This is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. Produced in extensive consultation with NASA scientists, this special takes data from earth-observing satellites and transforms them into dazzling visual sequences, each one exposing the intricate and surprising web of forces that sustain life on earth.
Global Weirding (50:00) Is the world’s weather growing more extreme? This program joins hurricane chasers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and discovers that over the last decade, these storms have been getting more powerful. MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel warns that the new “black swan hurricanes,” storms of unusual and unexpected ferocity, could hit places in the world that haven’t been slammed by hurricanes in recorded history—and that merely forecasting the weather may no longer be enough.
Meteorology: The Science of Weather (14:00) This Science Screen Report looks at the causes of climatic conditions and their influence on human activity. Outlining principles of topography and atmospheric pressure, the program identifies specific types of weather and how they form global patterns—sometimes with damaging and deadly results. The role of ocean currents, and their relation to massive storm systems such as hurricanes and El Niño, is made clear. This program is a valuable source of information on meteorological studies, including the use of satellite technology.
Solar Storms: The Threat to Planet Earth (59:00) Activity on the surface of the Sun is ramping up, increasing the risk of massive storms of plasma. And what’s more, these storms will continue to happen for a number of years. But what are solar storms, and what do they mean for life on Earth? Is there a way to lessen their impact? This program goes to the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, and to the National Solar Observatory to investigate.
The Weather Video Clip Collection (60:00) The weather—a phenomenon clearly beyond human control!—is nevertheless a topic of fascination to people the world over. A combination of high-quality film footage and detailed animations, this collection of 48 video clips (30 seconds to 2 minutes each) discusses Earth’s atmosphere, precipitation, meteorology, climates, the environment, and pollution.

More Media

In addition to streaming media, we have DVDs, images, audio and more media.

The Visual Guides: Understanding Weather and The Environment