Physical Geography Resources

Free Online Textbooks and More

• Fundamentals of Physical Geography – 2nd Edition
• Understanding Physical Geography – 1st Edition
• Physical Geography – Version 1 (2020)
• OER Resources: Physical Geography
• Natural Disaster and Human Impacts (2017)
• An Introduction to Geology (2017)
• Physical Geology – 2nd Edition (2019)
• EarthLabs
• YouTube channel by Simon Haslett
• GeoScience Videos
• The Encyclopedia of Earth

Basic Geography Resources

• Know your States! A fun online game for U.S. geography
• A true classic: Powers of Ten!   website    YouTube
• The Scale of the Universe
• Universcale (by Nikon)
• The Scale of the Solar System (if the Moon were 1 pixel)
• How Big is Space?
• Cell Size and Scale (University of Utah)
• Planet Earth Control Deck
• The History and Future of Everything – Time (7:10 minute video)
• Satellite image movie of the seasons!
• What causes the seasons?
• The seasons across the US!
• The Seasons, the Sun, and the Moon! (by MinutePhysics)
• Why Do We Have Different Seasons? (3:16 minutes)
• Top-10 Reasons We Know the Earth is Round (more great videos from MinutePhysics)
• Why all world maps are wrong (6:00 minutes)
• The Mercator Projection on the West Wing (Season 2, Episode 16)
• All Maps ‘Lie’!
• Where is the North Pole anyways?
• What is sea level anyways?
• How does time work on Earth?
• How Tides Work! (15:20 minute YouTube video)
• The Rivers of the Mississippi Watershed (by NASA)
• What the Fahrenheit? (5:23 minutes)

New England

• Beyond Granite – The Geology of Adventure
• The Franconia Ridge (360° Panorama)
• Mount Tom Wild: Wildlife on the Mount Tom Range
• The Connecticut River Oxbow

Weather and Climate

• Live wind map of the Earth!
• Live wind map of the USA!
• Dust from the Sahara to the Amazon via the Trade Winds! (2:13 NASA video)
• The weather forecast – explained!
• Real-time hurricane tracking websites: ESRI and MSNBC
• Historical Hurricane tracks: NOAA (note the data download option!)
• Global cloud coverage: an amazing interactive animation by Google!
• NEWA (Network for Environment and Weather Applications, Cornell University)
• The seasonal cycle across the USA from space from NASA (also available here)
• The global seasonal cycle from NASA (also on Youtube or as zoomable map)
• Why is the sky blue?
• What is wind?
• How do clouds form?
• Global Tour of Precipitation (by NASA)
• The Coriolis Force and the Jet Stream
• Toilet Flushing and the Coriolis Force (NH, SH)
• Does Water Swirl the Other Way in the Southern Hemisphere?
• Weather vs. Climate
• Lightning strikes around the world
• Lightning strikes May 2013
• Where is the hottest place on Earth? (by MinuteEarth)
• Where is the hottest place on Earth? (by NASA)
• Where is the coldest place on Earth? (great video!)
• Lake-Effect Snow (cool video from Buffalo)
• The Hillbilly Weatherman

Tornados and Hurricanes

• The Hurricane Category Scale Is Broken (YouTube, 4:22 minutes)
• How Do Tornadoes Form? (video by Scientific American)
• 61 Years of Tornado Tracks: map and video
• Tornado Probabilities (1982 to 2011)
• Hurricane Katrina – 10 Years After
• What Are The Chances Of Another Katrina? (1:30 minutes)
• A Funnel Cloud Over Springfield! (27 July 2014)
• Tuscaloosa tornado track 2011 vs. 2016
• Moore (OK): Tornado Town, USA

Rocks, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and More!

• 4.5 billion years in 24 hours
• 4.5 billion years in 60 seconds
• Earth’s History On A Football Field (4:38  minutes)
• The Weight of Mountains
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth
• The Physical History of the Earth (7:21 minute video)
• The History of the Earth (in 3D!)
• Does the Universe have a purpose?
• Pangea with modern borders!
• Plate Tectonics with a Pop-Up book (great video!)
• Plate Tectonics Explained (by MinuteEarth)
• Plate Tectonics (video)
• The Motion of Tectonic Plates (Esri Story Map)
• 400 Million Years (animated GIF)
• The Next 250 Million Years in 59 seconds (video)
• The Rock Cycle Song
• Diving Between the Continents (9:13 minutes)
• Earthquakes since 1898
• Extreme Science: Earthquakes in California
• Why Earthquakes Are So Hard To Predict (3:47 minute video)
• 17 June 2013 explosion of Popocatepetl (more information)
• 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan
• The South Napa Earthquake (24 August 2014)
• Liquefaction!
• Volcanoes around the world in 3D (Esri Story Map)
• Mount St. Helens Eruption (18 May 1980)

Weathering and Erosion

• Massive 10 April 2013 landslide in Bingham Copper Mine (Utah): Desert News – AGU Landslide Blog – Pictures
• 4 August 2012 debrisflow in Virgen (Austria)
• 29 May 2016 flood/debrisflow in Braunsbach (Germany)
• 21 October 1993 slope failure/landslide/debrisflow in Malaysia (more information)
• 18 July 2013 flash flood / debris flow in Utah
• March 2014 Landslide in Oso (Washington)
• 1 April 2015 earthflow in Bolshaya Talda (Russia)
• A video about sand! (2:27 minutes byMinuteEarth)
• A video about dust! (5:39 minutes by It’s Okay To Be Smart)
• Why do rivers meander? (by Minute Earth)
• Why Do Rivers Have Deltas (by Minute Earth)
• Meandering River (1985 vs. 2014)
• Why is the Grand Canyon so ‘Grand’? (4:28 minutes by IOTBS)
• Modelling chemical weathering in 60 seconds!
• Weathering vs. Plate Tectonics (2:30 minutes audio podcast)

Glaciers

• Extreme Ice Survey by James Balog (great photos and time-lapse videos)
• Jakobshavn Glacier (Greenland) calving event
• Helnheim Glacier (Greenland) calving event (12 July 2010)
• Glacierworks by David Breashears (great repeat photos from the Himalayas)
• Glaciers Online (excellent photographs and glacier science from around the world)
• All About Glaciers (the science presented by the National Snow & Ice Data Center)
• The Vernagtferner in Austria (one of the main index glaciers in the Alps)
• Historical cartoon of the (advancing) Vernagtferner
• Ice Sheet Thickness 21,000 years ago