LINKS
BIO 111
Intro
Carbon
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Keeping Up With Carbon. Carbon is all around us. This unique atom is the basic building
block of life, and its compounds form solids, liquids, or gases. Carbon helps form the bodies of
living organisms; it dissolves in the ocean; mixes in the atmosphere; and can be stored in the crust
of the planet. A carbon atom could spend millions of years moving through this complex cycle. The
ocean plays the most critical role in regulating Earth's carbon balance, and understanding how the
carbon cycle is changing is key to understanding Earth's changing climate.
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010400/a010498/Keeping_Up_wit
h_Carbon_640x360_ipod.m4v
Photosynthesis
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How Much Carbon do Plants Take from the Atmosphere? The gross primary
productivity of the world's land areas for the period 2000-2009 as calculated from Terra's MODIS
instrument. The original 8-day average GPP data has been smoothed to a 24-day average to make
the animation less noisy. This version adds a date and colorbar to the animation.
o
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http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003764/gppaveragedate.
720p.mp4
Global Biosphere from August, 1997 to July, 2003 (WMS). This animation shows the
first six years worth of biosphere data taken by the SeaWiFS instrument. On land, areas of high
plant life are shown in dark green, while areas of low plant life are shown in tan. In the ocean,
areas of high phytoplankton are shown in red, and areas of lowest phytoplankton are shown in
blue and purple.
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002900/a002914/seawifs6year.mpg
Galapagos Islands
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Journey to Galapagos. Dr. Feldman (NASA) reflects on his unique perspective on this
fascinating region and looks ahead to his journey to Galapagos.
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010400/a010468/Journey_to_Gala
pagos_640x480_ipod.m4v
BIO 112
Protists
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Plants
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The Ocean's Green Machines. One tiny marine plant makes life on Earth possible:
phytoplankton. These microscopic photosynthetic drifters form the basis of the marine food web,
they regulate carbon in the atmosphere, and are responsible for half of the photosynthesis that
takes place on this planet. Earth's climate is changing at an unprecedented rate, and as our home
planet warms, so does the ocean. Warming waters have big consequences for phytoplankton and
for the planet.
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010400/a010497/Oceans_Green_
Machines_320x180.mp4 low resolution
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010400/a010497/Oceans_Green_
Machines_640x360_ipod.m4v high resolution
Scientists discover the largest under-ice phytoplankton bloom ever seen
o http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/ocean-bloom.html
How Much Carbon do Plants Take from the Atmosphere? The gross primary
productivity of the world's land areas for the period 2000-2009 as calculated from Terra's MODIS
instrument. The original 8-day average GPP data has been smoothed to a 24-day average to make
the animation less noisy. This version adds a date and colorbar to the animation.
o

Global Biosphere from August, 1997 to July, 2003 (WMS). This animation shows the
first six years worth of biosphere data taken by the SeaWiFS instrument. On land, areas of high
plant life are shown in dark green, while areas of low plant life are shown in tan. In the ocean,
areas of high phytoplankton are shown in red, and areas of lowest phytoplankton are shown in
blue and purple.
o

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003764/gppaveragedate.
720p.mp4
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002900/a002914/seawifs6year.mpg
Scanning Electron Microscope Still Image of Pollen Particles. Aerosols are complex
particles that come from a variety of sources. They occur in nature, but can also be generated by
human activity. Pollen grains are an example of short-lived aerosols that are difficult to detect but
are found near the Earth's surface. Pollen effect human health, but researchers do not consider
these aerosols to be part of the climatologically important population of tropospheric aerosols. This
Scanning Electron Microscopic image reveals pollen grains from a variety of common plants:
sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea ), prairie hollyhock (Sidalcea
malviflora), oriental lily (Lilium auratum ), evening primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean
(Ricinus communis).
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010300/a010394/pollen.jpg
Invertebrates
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Coral Reef Flyover of the Florida Keys. With the Landsat 7 satellite we can see how coral
reefs form and how they change over time. We don’t have to go out in boats and check small
places. We can check from space. One year, 900 locations, thousands of coral reefs. That's the
tally of NASA's Landsat 7 satellite as it continues to deliver cutting edge images and information
about the Earth. Be on the lookout for the Florida Keys Scenic Highway (US Route 1). That will give
you a sense of scale and how BIG the Keys’ reef system really is.
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002000/a002007/a002007.mp4
Population, Community & Ecosystems Ecology
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ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION: Shades of green have slowly reclaimed the scarred
landscape around Mount St. Helens.
o http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/sthelens.php?
src=vizapp
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Water Cycle. This animation shows one molecule of water completing the
hydrologic cycle.
o http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010501/water_cycle_appl
etv_1280x720.m4v
Carbon Cycle. (Repeat of “Keeping Up With Carbon” from BIO 111) Carbon is all around
us. This unique atom is the basic building block of life, and its compounds form solids, liquids, or gases.
Carbon helps form the bodies of living organisms; it dissolves in the ocean; mixes in the atmosphere;
and can be stored in the crust of the planet. A carbon atom could spend millions of years moving
through this complex cycle. The ocean plays the most critical role in regulating Earth's carbon balance,
and understanding how the carbon cycle is changing is key to understanding Earth's changing climate.
o

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010400/a010498/Keeping_Up_wit
h_Carbon_640x360_ipod.m4v
Five-Year Average Global Temperature Anomalies from 1880 to 2011. The global
average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880.The finding sustains a trend
that has seen the 21st century experience nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological
record. NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York released an analysis of how
temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th
century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience higher temperatures than several
decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) higher
than the mid-20th century baseline.
This color-coded map displays a progression of changing global surface temperatures anomalies from
1880 through 2011. The final frame represents global temperature anomalies averaged from 2007 to
2011. Blues = cooling trends. Yellows, Oranges and Reds = warming trends.
o
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http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003900/a003901/GISStemp2011d
ates.m4v
28 Year Arctic Temperature Trend. Scientists who study the Arctic region consider this area
to be an early indicator of global warming, because changes in this area are amplified by the high
albedo of the snow and ice. This animation depicts the 28-year surface temperature trend over
the Arctic region determined from data collected between August 1981 and July 2009.
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003672/Temp_trend_V03
_IPOD.m4v
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Global Warming…Melting Glaciers and Fresh Water. Jakobshavn Isbrae is located on the
west coast of Greenland at Latitude 69 N. The ice front, where the glacier calves into the sea, receded
more than 40 km between 1850 and 2006. Between 1850 and 1964 the ice front retreated at a steady
rate of about 0.3 km/yr, after which it occupied approximately the same location until 2001, when the
ice front began to recede again, but far more rapidly at about 3 km/yr. As more ice moves from glaciers
on land into the ocean, it causes a rise in sea leve
o http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003806/Jakobshavn_orth
o_68.94N_69.39N_49.212W_51.372W.tif
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Larson B Ice Shelf. Five true color images of the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf of January,
February, and March 2002, as recorded by NASA's MODIS satellite sensor.
o
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002400/a002421/a002421.mpg
Biosphere
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Aquarius studies Ocean and Wind Flows. The Aquarius satellite studies the Earth’s Oceans
(currents, temperature, salinity, etc). This is the full composite video with the narration, shows some of
what Aquarius and other satellites are capable of measuring. It starts with the SST data, the wind data,
the surface ocean currents and deep ocean currents, the Aquarius spacecraft, an el nino animation, the
salinity data, and ends with ocean B-roll footage.
o
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http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003829/G2011028_Aquarius_Ocean_Circulation.mov
Another Aquarius clip. This composite movie clip contains 10 seconds of surface
flows colored by sea surface temperature, followed by 6 seconds of wind currents,
followed by 12 seconds of ocean surface currents and 40 seconds of large-scale
ocean overturning circulation.
o http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003829/oceanCirculation
Composite_ipod.m4v
Human Impacts
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Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.
o http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010562/G2011044_Oil_Spill_Anniversary.mov