Imagery
Outline
• Background on satellite imaging (5 mins)
• Activity 1: Ocean chlorophyll and sea surface temperature relationship (10-15 mins)
• Acitvity 2: Understanding algal blooms (10-15 mins)
• Discussion
Teaching standards
• Common core standards– Evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science
or technical text. – Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer
a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem• Environmental science standards
– Describe interconnection between abiotic and biotic factors• Next generation science standards
– Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may alter the ecosystem
Imagery
• Local patterns are easy to study
• Local processes carried out by microbes (i.e. oxygen production, nutrient cycling) combine to influence global cycles
• How do we monitor global patterns in primary production, chlorophyll concentration, temperature, etc.?
Satellite history
• 1957-Sputnik 1 first satellite successfully launched by USSR
• 1958-Explorer 1 first NASA satellite– Discovered earth’s magnetic
field
• 1964-Nimbus 1– One of the first observation
satellites– Took photographs of cloud
conditions
• Since 1964, 40 satellite missions have been deployed and deactivated
Sputnik I
Explorer I
Satellites and oceanography• More than 20 satellites currently
in orbit
• What do they measure?
• Scatterometer to measure wind speed and direction
• Microwave radiometer to measure sea surface temperature
• Infrared radiometer to identify cloud, land, and water features
• Measure absorption to determine chlorophyll concentration
Satellite data
• Most provide real-time and historical data
• Free to use
• Easily accessible– NASA Giovanni
website– http://
disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/giovanni
Sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll in the oceans
• Ocean phytoplankton produce 50-85% of the oxygen on earth
• What factors regulate this productivity?
• Do you expect a relationship between global chlorophyll concentration (i.e. phytoplankton biomass) and temperature?
Activity 1
SST/chlorophyll relationship using satellite data
Activity 1 Questions
• Is there a clear relationship between sea surface temperature and chlorophyll?
• What is this relationship and how does it vary across seasons?
• What factors might explain the relationship between these two variables?
Activity 1 expected outcomes
• Students should see regardless of season phytoplankton abundance is greatest in coldwater regions or along coasts.
Ocean currents• Higher nutrient
concentrations in coldwater regions can explain chlorophyll/temperature relationship
• What factors regulate the distribution of nutrients in the world oceans?
• How does nutrient concentration vary along a vertical gradient in a water column?
Ocean currents• Mixing of warm and
cold water currents bring nutrients to the ocean surface
• Are there other factors influencing nutrient distribution in the ocean?
• How are ocean currents created and what are some of the controlling variables?
Harmful algal blooms
• Runoff from land use leads to the formation of many blooms
• Complex environmental conditions initiating blooms still under investigation
• Visible from space
Activity 2
Harmful algal blooms
Activity 2 Questions
• Are there certain times of the year during which chlorophyll levels are high or low? Why?
• In general, what area(s) of the Gulf of Mexico have highest chlorophyll concentrations? Why?
Activity 2 expected outcomes
• Students should understand that land use patterns and runoff lead to algal blooms in coastal systems. They should also be able to describe seasonal patterns in algal bloom formation.
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