Natural Disasters and Investigating the Causes
Using Google Earth to Investigate Reasons and Outcomes of Disasters
Aug 19, 2008
Everyday natural disasters occur somewhere in the world. Disasters are caused by flooding, hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, and more. Students rarely have the ability to view the effects of natural disasters, except on TV. However, there is one technology that is available for students to watch natural disasters occur or see the effects after they have occurred.
This technology is called Google Earth. Using this free technology, students get a bird’s eye view of a natural disaster area with remarkable high resolution. This technology was only available to scientists and government officials until recently. Teachers and students now have access to this technology and they can investigate the cause and effect of any natural disaster in the world.
Google Earth and Natural Disasters
When word of a natural disaster is unfolding somewhere in the world and announced on the news, students can use Google Earth to conduct an investigation of the disaster’s effect. If enough warning is given, examples are a hurricane or typhoon; students can view the expected land fall areas before they strike. Then students can view the effects after the hurricane or typhoon passes through the area.
Other natural disasters students can investigate include:
- Volcano Eruptions – investigation lava flows and impact on surrounding vegetation.
- Earthquakes – especially in populated areas, investigating the impact on human development and land masses.
- Major Floods – investigate floods, along with watershed cause and effects.
- Tsunamis – investigate the destructive power of Tsunamis, by comparing before and after images of the seashore and surrounding landscape.
- Wild Fires – investigate and track the spread of wild fires anywhere in the world to determine the effect, when compared to previous data.
- Droughts – monitor the effect on vegetation, rivers, and watersheds as droughts continue over a period of time.
- Blizzards – investigate the effect when blizzards cover a large region, such as the east coast blizzard of 1995.
- Tornadoes – investigate the damage caused by a tornadoes’ impact on areas populated by humans, comparing the different levels of tornadoes.
Cause and Effect of Natural Disasters
Students can ask a variety of questions to answer based on their investigations related to natural disasters using Google Earth. Examples include:
- Why do droughts occur?
- What is the impact of a drought on farmers in the Midwest?
- Which continent has the most droughts and why?
- What causes wild fires?
- What is the impact of wild fires in the rainforests?
- What causes earthquakes along the San Andres fault in California?
- Where are volcanoes and why?
Google Earth Download for Free
Visit Google Earth and Global Warming Science Projects for technical specifics about Google Earth and where to download for free. An additional source to help guide student questions is 20 Questions to Ask Children in Science Projects.
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