Deep Density Drivers

Science Concepts—Deep Density Drivers

Summary: Ocean currents redistribute heat around the world and affect the world’s climate. In this topic guide, students use a model to find out how density drives deep ocean currents, and use the information to describe the potential impacts an influx of fresh water could have on ocean circulation.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Density in the ocean drives deep global currents
  2. Deep ocean currents affect the earth’s climate
  3. Increased Arctic ice melt could slow deep ocean currents

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-ESS2-6. Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Explain how and why the melting rate of an ice cube is different in fresh water compared to salt water
  2. Use a model to demonstrate how density driven ocean currents work
  3. Describe how an influx of fresh water in the Arctic could affect ocean circulation

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Experiment: Will an ice cube melt faster in fresh water or salt water? from MIT Blossoms.
    • Students explore concepts of density by conducting an experiment comparing the rate an ice cube melts in fresh water and in salt water. The activity provides a foundation for understanding deep ocean circulation.
    • Includes a video lesson, teacher’s guide, worksheets, and an assessment rubric.
  • NOAA Multimedia Discovery Mission Lesson 8: Ocean Currents
    • The Video Lesson provides narrated animations describing surface currents and deep ocean currents, and the Global Impact sections describes how increased ice melt in the Arctic could affect deep ocean circulation.
  • Online image: Major Ocean Currents viewer from NOAA National Weather Service JetStream webpages

Assessment:

  • Assessment rubric included in the MIT Blossoms lesson
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The Ocean and our Weather

Science Concepts—The Ocean and our Weather

Summary: The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate. The ocean absorbs heat from solar radiation, and loses heat by evaporation. When water from the ocean enters the atmosphere as water vapor, it condenses and forms rain. In fact, most of the rain that falls on land originally evaporated from the tropical ocean. In this topic guide, students explore relationships between the ocean and weather on land though investigations of the water cycle.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Water moves through a cycle that includes the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere
  2. The ocean plays an important role in shaping climate and weather

Standards:

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Build a model to show how water moves through the Earth’s systems
  2. Describe how the ocean influences weather on land

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Lesson: The Water Cycle—In this lesson from NASA GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) students participate in a webquest to learn about the water cycle, and then build a model of the water cycle to observe how water moves through Earth’s four systems.
  • Images that describe the water cycle
    • Water Cycle Poster from NOAA Education Resource—Use to review parts of the water cycle with students. Note that much of the water that will end up as rain is evaporated from the ocean.
    • Water Cycle Animation animation from NASA GPM—Visualize how water that evaporates into clouds from the ocean moves toward land and falls as precipitation.
  • Use the water cycle to connect the ocean and watershed. Review the Watershed Walk from OCEP Module One
  • Activity: The Incredible Journey through the Water Cycle—In this Project WET game adapted by the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, students learn about the physical processes of the water cycle by taking on the role of a drop of water moving through the system.

Assessment:

  • The NASA GPM webquest includes a Student Capture worksheet.
  • How does water that evaporates from the ocean make its way to land?
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Climate vs Weather

Science Concepts—Climate vs Weather

Summary: Sometimes people who are trying to understand climate change have asked the question, “How could the planet be warming given that it is so cold outside today?” Weather and climate are not the same thing. Weather is what’s happening outside your window; atmospheric conditions that you can see, feel or measure. In contrast, climate is an area’s long-term weather patterns, and understanding climate requires looking at data taken over a longer period of time. This topic guide contains activities and resources to help students better understand the the difference between weather and climate, and recognize that it takes time to compile a climate record. They then explore factors that influence local climate.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Climate is an area’s long term weather patterns; generally the record is at least 30 years.
  2. Single weather events represent only part of a climate record and don’t tell us if the climate is changing.
  3. Climate is affected by a variety of factors, including latitude, elevation, proximity to bodies of water and mountain ranges, etc.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-ESS2-6. Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Use climate data to determine how the temperature of the Earth has changed during a recent ~50 year period.
  2. Explore, analyze and interpret climate patterns of several different cities, and
  3. Analyze differences between weather and climate patterns.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Comparing Climate and Weather—This Power Point was created by educator LuAnn Dahlman from the NOAA Climate Program Office. It begins with a story of a personal observation and leads to interpretation of long term datasets.
    • Use the tables and graphs in slides #9-12 to guide students through identifying extreme annual events, determining temperature ranges over a climate record, and calculating average minimum and maximum temperatures.
    • The presentation ends with a Climate? or Weather? quiz.
    • Access NCDC DataTools to find out the minimum, maximum and average temperatures for other areas in the U.S. Compare the Minneapolis July 4th min/max temperature data to datasets from other regions. For a given area, compare July min/max data to data from other months of the year.
  • Activity: Oregon Climate Data—Explore climate data for various cities throughout Oregon to see how temperature and precipitation vary throughout the year and in different locations. Students will observe that coastal areas experience a smaller temperature range and greater precipitation than areas in Oregon that lie east of the Cascade Range.
    • Reading: Climate of Oregon—Background information from the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute that describes how the Pacfic Ocean and Cascade Range influence climate.
  • Activity: Investigating Weather and Climate with Google Earth from the Environmental Initiative at Lehigh University (Gr. 8) – This lesson plan includes a power point, kmz files, student guides, worksheets and implementation suggestions. Students use Google Earth to explore some factors that affect weather. They will use Google Earth to determine how latitude, elevation, proximity to bodies of water, and mountain ranges affect a location’s climate. They will also explore, analyze, and interpret weather patterns in 7 different U.S. cities.
  • Online activity: What factors control your local climate?—This online activity from McDougal-Littel’s textbook Exploring Earthinvites students to compare climate graphs from different cities and asks them to describe factors that influence climate.
  • Reading: Weather and Climate—EPA Climate Change Indicators in the US. Explore the headings to see how long term temperature and precipitation data are used to indicate climate change.
  • Video: Weather vs. Climate—The second video of the CoCoRaHS Educational Series in collaboration with NOAA and NSF. Learn about the differences in this fun video.

Assessment:

  • Comparing Climate and Weather Power Point has a quiz at the end
  • Compare and contrast the climate and weather patterns of 2 or more cities. What factors influence climate and weather in these cities?
  • Students create a diagram or map to describe factors influencing regional climate patterns.
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The Fragile Fringe

Planning—The Fragile Fringe

Summary: Coastal salt marshes may be at risk when sea level changes at a rate that is more rapid than normal. While coastal wetlands usually build up sediments and vegetation at rates similar to the rates that they subside (sink) or erode, the expected rate of sea level rise over the next few decades may flood or erode some wetlands before they can refill. Today, researchers are studying how salt marshes grow so that they can help land managers predict the wetlands’ response to elevated sea level. In this topic guide, students use a model to demonstrate wetland subsidence, and learn about the importance of sediment deposition and vegetation growth to marsh survival.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Wetland subsidence is a gradual sinking of land with respect to its previous level.
  2. Wetland accretion is the deposition of organic material that leads to a vertical buildup of wetland area.
  3. Wetlands need to accumulate new sediments and vegetation to remain elevated and healthy.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Define subsidence and demonstrate the resulting effects on wetlands.
  2. Understand how sea level rise can result in wetland loss.
  3. Identify factors that can help keep wetlands vertically elevated.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Activity: Loss of Wetlands – Subsidence in The Fragile Fringe from the National Wetlands Research Center—In this classroom experiment, students use a plastic box, soil and water to simulate a wetland and the effects water on the “elevation” of the soil.
  • Presentation: Sea Level Rise—from Maryland Chesapeake and Coastal Program. This model of salt marsh migration shows both how salt marshes stabilize shorelines and how tidal communities may respond to sea level rise.
  • Field experience: Visit a wetland area and identify high marsh and low marsh areas.
    • Using observations of plant composition and other cues, identify the mean low water (MLW) and mean high water (MHW) lines.
    • Compare your observations of the field site with the models discussed in class. What local factors could cause the marsh area at your field site to change (sink, rise, migrate)?
  • The Coastal Ecosystem Response to Climate Change (CERCC) webpage from USGS Western Ecological Research Center is a resource that describes how scientists monitor tidal marsh processes and responses to environmental changes such as sea level rise.

Assessment:

  • In the subsidence model, what happened to the level of the soil when water was added? What could be done to keep the soil elevation in the model constant?
  • How do shoreline structures help or hinder the amount of plant material and sediment that can build up on a marsh?
    • What types of shoreline structures allow for sediment to build up on a marsh?
    • What types of shoreline structures inhibit sediment build up on a marsh?
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Shoreline Structure

Planning—Shoreline Structure

Summary: How do different types of shoreline react to flooding and sea level rise? In this topic guide, students learn about various “hard” and “soft” features of coastal shorelines and how wetlands can help control flooding. As a field experience, students examine characteristics of a shoreline and predict its resiliency to sea level rise. Students identify natural and engineered solutions that help shoreline structures stay resilient.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Shoreline features vary in different places along coastlines, and are differentially impacted by sea level rise and storm surges.
  2. Soft shorelines absorb wave energy and water, and hard shorelines reflect or redirect wave energy and water.
  3. Coastal wetlands can help protect communities from damaging sea level rise and storm surges.
  4. Engineered shorelines can positively or negatively affect coastal resiliency.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Read and create maps to describe the shoreline features of a coastal area.
  2. Describe how different shoreline structures might respond to flooding and sea level rise.
  3. Identify the ecological services wetlands provide to control flooding and erosion.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Activity: Shoreline Survey field experience—Look at National ESI Shoreline database maps for a study site. Visit the site with students to survey and map hard and soft features of the coastal shoreline and compare it to the ESI maps. Based on the shoreline structures, ask students to forecast the impacts that rising sea level might have on the area.
    • National ESI Shoreline (Environmental Sensitivity Index) maps
    • Example Field Experience at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR
      • National ESI Shoreline screenshot for Yaquina Bay
      • Hatfield Marine Science Center Nature Trail mapping worksheet—Walk the HMSC Estuary Nature Trail and draw on the map different symbols and colors to indicate shoreline features. Create a key to the symbols and colors
      • Example of a completed map
  • Activity: Wetlands and their ecological services—in this Lesson 1.3 of the Bringing Wetlands to Market curriculum, students learn about the different types of wetlands and their ecological roles, and they identify one or more local wetlands.
  • The role of wetlands in coastal flooding
    • RISE Webstory 5: The Flood Next Time—Video (5:40) Converting salt ponds back to original wetlands could help a small community near San Francisco survive flooding from sea level rise
  • Reading
    • Shoreline Armoring: Pros and Cons—From NOAA’s State of the Coast website
    • Living Shorelines—This NOAA website shows how natural bank stabilization techniques are implemented to restore shorelines.
    • Coastal habitats shield people and property from sea level rise and storms
    • Komar, P.D. and Allan, J.C., 2010. USGS article “Design with Nature” strategies for shore protection—The construction of a cobble berm and artificial berm and artificial dune in an Oregon State Park

Assessment:

  • Map the hard and soft shoreline features of a coastal area. How many different shoreline types are there? Which features are natural and which are human-made? Is there evidence of existing coastal erosion or flooding?
  • HMSC has a problem with erosion which is encroaching on the walking path and threatening buildings. Ask students to suggest potential solutions for engineering a shoreline that would help address the erosion problem. Photos
  • Create a PSA about the role wetlands play to control flooding and erosion.
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The New Waterfront

Impacts—The New Waterfront

Summary: Climate induced sea level rise can lead to erosion and flooding events that threaten natural and human communities, establish new coastlines, and change ecosystems. What are the predicted impacts of sea level rise for a given area on the Oregon coast?

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Sea level rise poses a threat to many coastal communities.
  2. Coastal hazard models use geographic, historic, and economic information to predict future impacts.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Use animations and other online resources to obtain information about the risks, if any, that a specific coastal community faces from erosion and/or flooding.
  2. For a given community, report whether impacts from coastal hazards have changed over time and/or are predicted to change in the future.
  3. Identify how climate change affects coastal hazard risks.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Sea Level Rise—In this Lesson 4.1 from Waquoit Bay NERR’s Bringing Wetlands to Market curriculum, students are provided with topographic maps of a coastal area and are asked to draw new shorelines based on predicted sea level rise for that area. They then discuss implications for shoreline changes for that particular area.
  • NOAA Coastal Services Center’s Digital Coast is a resource that includes predicted sea level rise information around the globe, as well as Coastal County Snapshots that can help students asses impacts of sea level rise.
    • Sea Level Rise Viewer—NOAA Coastal Services Center displays potential future sea levels in an interactive map.
    • Coastal County Snapshots—Obtain a profile of a coastal county to find out its flood exposure, how it benefits from wetlands, and the extent to which its economy depends on the ocean.
  • Oregon King Tide Photo Project—Citizen photo-document the impacts of coastal flooding during extreme high tides. Check the Flickr page to see if there is a photo for your target community, or contribute your own photo to the dataset.

Assessment:

  • Students write or present an oral report about potential erosion and flood risks in a given coastal community, and whether/how climate change is predicted to impact these risks.
  • Prior to a coastal field trip, have students research the area and describe potential impacts of sea level rise on that area.
  • Participate in the King Tide Photo Project to document the degree of flooding during extreme high tide events.
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Melting Ice

Impacts—Melting Ice

Summary: One indicator of climate change is the increased melting of ice on sea and on land. Students view scientific data showing the extent of ice in the Arctic to see how the amounts have changed over time. They then conduct an experiment to demonstrate which masses of melting ice contribute most to sea level rise and why.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Scientists measure sea ice mass and glacial ice mass to see patterns and changes over time
  2. Increasing rates of melting ice on land and sea are an indicator of global climate change
  3. Melting land-based ice contributes to sea level rise, while melting sea ice does not

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-PS1-4. Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Learn that ice formations on land will cause a rise in sea level when they melt, whereas ice formations on water will not cause a rise in sea level when they melt.
  2. Demonstrate that ice is less dense than water.
  3. Demonstrate that ice displaces water equal to the mass of the ice.

Activity Links and Resources:

Assessment:

  • Why do scientists track sea ice extent in the Arctic?
  • How will melting Arctic sea ice affect sea level?
  • How will melting glaciers and ice on Greenland and Antarctica affect sea level?

 

RETIRED LINK:

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Thermal Expansion

Science Concepts—Thermal Expansion

Summary: As the ocean’s temperature increases, its volume expands. In this topic guide, students use a model to demonstrate the relationship between water temperature and volume, and then use their findings to describe the impact a warming ocean has on sea level.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Heated water has more volume than cooler water due to a process called thermal expansion.
  2. Thermal expansion is the primary cause of climate induced sea level rise.
  3. A model can demonstrate a scientific concept.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-PS1-4. Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate that heated water has more volume than cooler water due to a process called thermal expansion
  2. Explain how sea level rise results in part from thermal expansion.
  3. Use a model to demonstrate a scientific concept.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • COSEE’s Thermal Expansion and Sea Level Rise—In this experiment, students measure the relationship between water volume and water temperature. This activity can be performed as a demonstration, or at the high school level, in student groups.

Assessment:

  • What happened to the water level as the temperature increased?
  • What caused the water level in the flask to change over time?
  • Would salt water react the same way as fresh water? How could you design an experiment that would test your hypothesis?
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Sea Level

Science Concepts—Sea Level

Summary: One consequence of climate change is sea level rise. In order to determine whether global sea level is changing, scientists must be able to understand natural temporal and spatial sea level variability. In this topic guide, students will use online data to learn about how sea level is measured, and how to determine sea level trends. Students then use tidal data to demonstrate how storm events affect water levels.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Scientists measure water level to determine patterns and trends.
  2. Ocean water levels vary depending on scale and geographic location.
  3. Overall, global sea level is rising.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-ESS3-2. Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Access and interpret sea level data
  2. Describe the effects storms can have on local water levels
  3. Use online or collected data to describe water levels for an coastal area in Oregon

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Understanding Sea Level Using Real Data from Data in the Classroom
    • Level 1: Reading Sea Surface Height
    • Level 2: Finding the Mean
    • Level 3: Reading Tide Data
    • Level 4: Measuring Storm Effects
    • Level 5: Designing Your Own Investigation
  • Regional sea level trends – Visit Sea level maps and graphs from NOAA Tides and Currents to find out how sea level changes in the Pacific Northwest compare to other parts of the world.
  • Local Sea Level is measured by tide stations, which refer to the height of the water as measured along the coast relative to a specific point on land. Invite students to explore online water level data.
  • Visit a coastal or aquatic site to determine current and historic high water level based on:
    • available data sets (local, online, etc.)
    • historical photos (contact the local historical society)
    • landscape indicators (identifying plant communities, erosion effects, etc.)
    • proximity of human infrastructure
    • direct measure with a meter stick, repeat measurements over time if possible

Assessment:

  • Assessment questions are included in the Data in the Classroom lessons
  • Obtain or collect data and use it to characterize sea level trends for a particular location
  • How does measuring tide height patterns help managers forecast impacts of storm events?
  • What evidence exists to indicate that sea level is rising?
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Ocean Temperature

Science Concepts—Ocean Temperature

Summary: Water has a much higher heat capacity than air, and the ocean absorbs 90% of the heat energy trapped by greenhouse gases. As the planet warms, the amount of heat stored in the world’s oceans increases. This topic guide provides resources that support student learning about ocean heat capacity and how ocean heat is an indicator of climate change.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. The ocean absorbs heat from the atmosphere.
  2. Sea surface temperature normally varies according to season.
  3. Climate change is causing an increase in ocean heat content.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • MS-PS3-4. Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Explain the difference between heat capacity of water and the heat capacity of air.
  2. Identify natural seasonal variability in ocean temperatures.
  3. Use data to demonstrate how ocean heat content is an indicator for climate change.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Heat Capacity Demonstration video—Use the balloon experiment from the NASA/JPL Climate Kids to demonstrate the difference between heat capacity of air vs. water. Rather than show the video to the students, inject inquiry into the investigation by presenting the demonstration or lab to the students without introduction, and ask them to explain to each other what is happening. Solicit student suggestions for how they could modify the experiment to further test their ideas.
  • EPA’s Ocean Heat Content—Ocean heat is an indicator for climate change. This page describes trends in the amount of heat stored in the world’s oceans between 1955 and 2015.
  • What are today’s SST conditions? Check the earth.nullschool website for a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers (updated every 3 hours)

Assessment:

  • Explain how the balloon model demonstrates the difference between the heat capacity of water vs. air.
  • The EPA’s Ocean Heat Content graphic plots three different datasets on the graph. How does looking at results from more than one set of data help scientists understand patterns?
  • Why is ocean heat increasing?
  • What are today’s SST conditions?
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