Categories
Earth Science

Glaciers: how they form, types of glaciers, and why glaciers are important

A glacier is a large, dense ice mass made from compacted snow that slowly moves under its own weight over a long period of time. Unlike seasonal snowpack, glacial ice does not fully melt in summer. Although glaciers move slowly, often just centimeters per day, they may cover great distances over many years. There are […]

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Earth Science

Common Water Features: examples (with links!) and descriptions!

About common water features Before diving into definitions and examples of some common water features, let us ask: “what is a water feature?” Water features are any waterbody or waterway found on the earth’s surface! Water features come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes! For example, some water features are lotic (flowing, like […]

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Earth Science Sustainability and Conservation

Snow Hydrology: why and how do scientists study snow?

What is snow hydrology? Snow hydrology is the study of snow’s role in the water cycle. Snow hydrologists study snowfall, melting, and everything that happens to snow in between! Many snow hydrologists are interested in the ways snow impacts our water resources. They may use data to make predictions about the water supply. Why is […]

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Earth Science Ecology

Disturbance and succession: examples of ecological disturbances, and the role of wildfire in ecosystems!

In this post, you’ll learn about ecological disturbance and succession, starting with definitions and examples of disturbances. We will cover the differences between primary succession vs. secondary succession, as well as the steps of the ecological succession process. Finally, you’ll read about why disturbances like wildfire can be important and natural processes in ecosystems! What […]

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Earth Science

Common Landforms: how they form, definitions, and examples

Many forces work together to shape the landscape. Plate tectonics, Vocanic activity, erosion, and deposition work slowly over time to form and change our earth’s surface. All these forces working together create some pretty unique and cool landforms! In this post, we’ll take a closer look at 12 common landforms – what they look like, […]

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Activity ideas Earth Science

How to Measure Tree Height: a real-world application of trigonometry and step-by-step guide to make your own inclinometer!

I don’t know about you, but I think math is a lot more interesting when we can apply it to real-world situations! If you’re studying trigonometry, right triangles, or angles, tree height measurements are the perfect applied math activity! In this simple activity you can create your own inclinometer – a device for measuring angle […]

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Earth Science Sustainability and Conservation

Tree Rings: why they form and what scientists can learn from them

In a rush? Click here to skip to printing the free learning activity! You may have noticed the unique rings that appear on tree stumps – and you might even know that you can figure out a tree’s age by counting the rings! But did you know that scientists can use tree growth rings to […]

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Earth Science

Mountains and the Water Cycle: the rain shadow effect explained

A short bonus post here! After writing two posts about the water cycle (how it works and how humans effect it), I still felt like there was more to write. I owed it to the wonderful mountains where I live, to touch on the important role of mountains in the water cycle. In this mini […]

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Earth Science

How Humans Affect the Water Cycle, a Complete Guide

In a rush? Skip directly to download the learning activity for this post! In part one of this two-part post on the water cycle, we learned how the water cycle makes life possible for land-dwelling plants and animals, including humans. The water cycle provides the constant source of freshwater that we need to survive. The […]

Categories
Earth Science

The Water Cycle: How it works, a simple and detailed explanation with definitions, diagrams, and a visualization activity!

Author’s note: As a master’s student who works with water, this one is an exciting topic for me to write about! Water is a vital resource that needs careful management in the Mountain West region of the United States. Mountain region watersheds are expected to face climate change-related challenges due to decreasing winter snowpack, changing […]