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Connections to Maine!!

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Maine Gemstones: tourmaline, amethyst, aquamarine, morganite

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Maine has produced many gemstones including tourmaline, aquamarine, morganite, smoky quartz, rose quartz, amethyst and more.

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Recent Earthweek items on climate change and global warming.

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Every winter, the newspapers show pictures of oceanfront buildings falling into giant surf. Beaches are not static piles of sand. Ocean currents cause beaches to move constantly. Beach sand is primarily a product of the weathering of the land. Sand can also come from ocean organisms such as coral.

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Plate Tectonics

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Earth is an ever-changing planet. Volcanoes and earthquakes continually reshape the continents and seafloor. Mountains rise, then are worn down. In the 1960s, scientists presented a theory that explains Earth's dynamics, from the occurrence of earthquakes to the building of the Mid-Ocean Ridge.

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Earth is an ever-changing planet. Volcanoes and earthquakes continually reshape the continents and seafloor. Mountains rise, then are worn down. In the 1960s, scientists presented a theory that explains Earth's dynamics, from the occurrence of earthquakes to the building of the Mid-Ocean Ridge.

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wind map temporarily offline, data not up to date. Back soon!

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If the map is missing, we recommend the latest Chrome browser.

An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us-energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future. This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US.

Wind map prints are available from Point.B Studio.

Read more about wind and about wind power.

The wind map is a personal art project, not associated with any company. We've done our best to make this as accurate as possible, but can't make any guarantees about the correctness of the data or our software. Please do not use the map or its data to fly a plane, sail a boat, or fight wildfires :-)

If the map is missing or seems slow, we recommend the latest Chrome browser.

Surface wind data comes from the National Digital Forecast Database. These are near-term forecasts, revised once per hour. So what you're seeing is a living portrait. (See the NDFD site for precise details; our timestamp shows time of download.) And for those of you chasing top wind speed, note that maximum speed may occur over lakes or just offshore.

If you're looking for a weather map, or just want more detail on the weather today, see these more traditional maps of temperature and wind.

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wind map temporarily offline, data not up to date. Back soon! 1 mph 3 mph 5 mph 10 mph 15 mph 30 mph If the map is missing, we recommend the latest Chrome browser. An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us-energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future.

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During the year, the seasons change depending on the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth as it revolves around the Sun.

The seasons are caused as the Earth, tilted on its axis, travels in a loop around the Sun each year. Summer happens in the hemisphere tilted towards the Sun, and winter happens in the hemisphere tilted away from the Sun. As the Earth travels around the Sun, the hemisphere that is tilted towards or away from the Sun changes.

The hemisphere that is tilted towards the Sun is warmer because sunlight travels more directly to the Earth's surface so less gets scattered in the atmosphere. That means that when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The hemisphere tilted towards the Sun has longer days and shorter nights. That's why days are longer during the summer than during the winter.

In general, the further away from the equator you travel, the cooler summer and winter temperatures become. At the equator there are no seasons because each day the Sun strikes at about the same angle. Every day of the year the equator receives about 12 hours of sunlight. The poles remain cool because they are never tilted in a direct path of sunlight. Much light is scattered by the atmosphere before reaching the Earth surface at the poles. During midwinter, when a pole is tilted away from the Sun, there is no daylight at all. The sun never rises! However, during the summer, a pole receives sunlight all the time and there is no night!

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Earth's Tilt Is the Reason for the Seasons!

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During the year, the seasons change depending on the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth as it revolves around the Sun. The seasons are caused as the Earth, tilted on its axis, travels in a loop around the Sun each year.

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HubbleSite - Out of the ordinary... out of this world

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Earth | NASA Space Place – NASA Science for Kids

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Articles, games and activities about our home planet