* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Global Microscope Presentation
Atlantic Ocean wikipedia , lookup
Abyssal plain wikipedia , lookup
Anoxic event wikipedia , lookup
Pacific Ocean wikipedia , lookup
Marine debris wikipedia , lookup
El Niño–Southern Oscillation wikipedia , lookup
History of research ships wikipedia , lookup
Indian Ocean Research Group wikipedia , lookup
Future sea level wikipedia , lookup
Marine biology wikipedia , lookup
Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment wikipedia , lookup
Southern Ocean wikipedia , lookup
Marine pollution wikipedia , lookup
Ecosystem of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre wikipedia , lookup
Ocean acidification wikipedia , lookup
Marine habitats wikipedia , lookup
Indian Ocean wikipedia , lookup
History of navigation wikipedia , lookup
Arctic Ocean wikipedia , lookup
On the first day of the Ross Sea Institute, Liberty Science Center used their Global Microscope to display numerous data sets and animations on a sphere. While is technology isn’t readily available to teachers, the data is the same, and can be a resource within the classroom. For this presentation most of the data used is freely available from NOAA’s Science on a Sphere NASA’s Earth Observatory. In addition to the links below that relate directly to the talk given, these sites offer a wealth of global data and animations. Many of these links navigate to a QuickTime file, and will start the animation automatically. The Blue Marble: http://sos.noaa.gov/highres-dataset-movies/bluemarble.mpg From our first glimpses of Earth from orbit, the blues of the ocean, and clouds in the sky captured the imagination. NASA refers to images like these as the Blue Marble, playing on the similarity of appearance between planet and toy. Ocean Draining: ftp://public.sos.noaa.gov/oceans/ocean_drain/land/ocean_drain_land_2048.mp4 Within our solar system, the presence of so much liquid water is unique to our world. Imagining an Earth without the ocean is a barren, hostile place. This image is using false color imagery to highlight elevation. Ocean Winds: http://sos.noaa.gov/videos/vector_winds.mov ftp://public.sos.noaa.gov/oceans/vector_winds/vector_winds_2048.mp4 (significantly larger file) Wind is often thought of as a local phenomenon from an individual’s viewpoint, but the Earth has major wind patterns that help shape and drive both our weather patterns, and ocean surface currents. The “Trade Winds” or “Jet Stream” are two examples of these larger scale winds. This animation uses arrows to indicate the direction the wind is blowing, and color over the ocean basin to indicate speed. In general the higher sustained wind speeds are seen near the high latitudes. Ocean Currents: http://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/Ocean/seacurrents.html There is also a KML file to use in Google Earth listed at bottom of page. The surface currents are mostly driven by atmospheric winds. Unlike the winds, these currents are diverted when they encounter land masses to north or south depending on the hemisphere. The currents are as a rule of thumb narrowest and strongest on the western edges of ocean basins. This animation shows ocean currents in green, with some yellows and reds for higher velocities. Ocean Conveyor Belt: ftp://public.sos.noaa.gov/oceans/ocean_conveyor_belt/oceanconveyorSM.mp4 The Conveyor Belt is a stylized model to illustrate the connectedness of water at all depths and across all ocean basins. This water can move in different time frames vertically versus horizontally and at depth, but what is important is there is only one ocean. Sea Surface Temperature: ftp://public.sos.noaa.gov/oceans/neo_sst/neo_sst_2048.mp4 The temperature of the surface water of the ocean can change with atmospheric temperatures throughout the seasons. Many surface currents can also be seen as variations in the temperature of the current compared to surrounding water. Below the photic zone of the ocean there is little to no change in water temperature across the globe. Land Temperature Anomoly: http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/Search.html?datasetId=MOD_LSTAD_M An anomaly is when the conditions depart from average conditions for a particular place at a given time of year. The maps show daytime land surface temperature anomalies for a given month compared to the average conditions during that period between 2000-2008. Places that were warmer than average are red, places that were near normal are white, and places that were cooler than average are blue. The observations were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. From this site you can choose to download images from various months and compare from month to month or year to year. There is also sea surface temperature anomaly available at NASA’s Earth Observatory but the land surface anomaly is easier to relate to and potentially connect to current events. Sea Ice 2009: http://sos.noaa.gov/videos/05-06_seaice3.mov Sea Ice coverage of the arctic varies with the season, melting in summer, refreezing into fall and winter. As average global temperatures rise, the poles are seeing the largest changes. More sea ice is melting in the arctic each summer than in previous decades. 2010 looks like it will break the 2007 sea ice minimum record. Once the white ice melts, the blue of the ocean below retains more heat (albedo effect) and can result in further melting. Also if the water is warmer at the end of summer it will be slower to refreeze in the winter and the following summer may start with less ice to begin with. Some estimates suggest there will be no summer arctic sea ice at all by 2050 if this trend continues.