Aurora Moodle Book

DOYLE, MOIRA EVELINA

Congreso; CALMET XIV Bringing together the best of online to learning; 2021

TheAurora Moodle Book is a resource we have created for our University extensioncourse which was first opened last semester. The course is an introduction toMeteorology directed to an audience with no university background but with apassion for meteorology. In this sense this resource, as the rest of thecourse, is a first approach to this beautiful spectacle that can be observed inthe atmosphere in some regions of the world. Through this resource studentswalk through the main characteristics of Auroras, what causes them, theirrelation with solar activity, regions of occurrence, frequencies with whichthey can be observed in different regions of the planet, the mechanism thatcreates their different colors. Through different videos and animations theyare able to observe what solar activity looks like, like the explosions at thesun´s surface and how the energetic particles coming from the Sun enter theEarth's magnetic field and interact with different gases in the upperatmosphere. Space weather is one of the novel fields which is gainingimportance in the meteorological spheres. As an introduction to this area thebook leads them to NOAA´s space weather prediction center where thereis a short-term forecast of the location and intensity of the aurora. After this visit students complete a briefactivity identifying regions where there is a probability of Aurora for the daythey have visited the website. Auroras are mostly observed in the northernhemisphere, aurora borealis, however they may be also seen in the southernhemisphere, so the book ends with some beautiful aurora australis photos andanimations