Using real-time data from Project DYNAMO to engage general education
students and promote ocean science education at a two-year college
Jacquelyn Hams, Department of Earth Science, Los Angeles Valley College, Valley Glen, CA 91401
[email protected]
NOAA Teacher at Sea blog: http://teacheratsea.wordpress.com/category/jackie-hams/
INTRODUCTION
LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a 30-90 day tropical weather cycle that starts over the equatorial Indian Ocean
and travels across the ocean basin, sometimes circumnavigating the globe and contributing to the earth’s global weather
and climate systems. This poster presentation highlights lesson plans created by NOAA Teacher at Sea (TAS) Jacquelyn
Hams, who participated in Leg 3 of Project DYNAMO (Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation) aboard the R/V Revelle
in the Indian Ocean from November-December 2011. Lesson plans were created using data collected during the DYNAMO
experiment from CTDs, expendable bathythermographs, radiosondes, drifter buoys, and echo sounders. The lesson plans
align with many of the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and fulfill many of the National Science Education Standards.
Contact TAS Jacquelyn Hams at [email protected] for complete information on the lesson plans.
Lou Verstraete (top right) and
Jonathan Smith (top left) use a
weather balloon to launch a
radiosonde from the R/V Revelle.
Students identify the troposphere, tropopause, and stratosphere from radiosonde data collected at the equatorial Indian
Ocean by answering the questions below. This data can be compared and contrasted with atmospheric thickness at midlatitudes.
TAS Jacquelyn Hams
aboard the R/V Revelle
in the Indian Ocean.
Project DYNAMO Ocean Mixing Group participants aboard the
R/V Revelle. Chief Scientist Jim Moum at upper right of
photograph. TAS Jacquelyn Hams at bottom center.
PLATE TECTONICS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
The image of the left was acquired from an echo sounder aboard
the R/V Revelle. Students are required to research the plate
tectonic setting of the image, fly to the location in google earth,
and discuss the plate tectonic environment, type of plate
boundary, and identify the features displayed in the center of the
image. The location in the Indian Ocean can be determined by the
latitude and longitude displayed on the image.
Ocean Literacy Principles:
1 The Earth has one big ocean with many features
2 The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of earth
INVESTIGATING THERMOCLINES
Students are provided the thermocline graph (a rapid change in
temperature with depth) on the bottom left obtained from an instrument
aboard the R/V Revelle called an Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT).
XBTs are torpedo shaped instruments which are lowered through the ocean
to obtain temperature data. The XBT is attached to a handheld instrument
for launching by a copper wire. Electronic readings are sent to the ship as
the XBT descends in the ocean. When the XBT reaches 1,000 meters, the
copper line is broken and the XBT is released and falls to the bottom of the
ocean.
TAS Jacquelyn Hams launches an XBT in the
Indian Ocean
Students examine the thermocline graph on the bottom left. The depth is
measured in meters and the temperature in degrees Celsius. Basic data is
recorded in the table to determine the thermocline interval.
Depth thermocline begins (m)
Depth thermocline ends (m)
Temperature thermocline begins
(0 C)
Temperature thermocline ends
(0 C)
1. What is the thermocline interval in meters?
2. What is the thermocline interval in degrees C?
Extend the lesson: Compare and contrast the thermocline graph from the
Indian Ocean using a thermocline graph from a different ocean.
Thermocline graph. The depth is
measured in meters and the
temperature in degrees Celsius.
Ocean Literacy Principles:
1 The Earth has one big ocean with many features
3 The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate
1. The troposphere extends from sea level to an altitude of approximately ____m. or ________km.
2. The thickness of the troposphere is approximately _______m or _____km.
3. The tropopause is located approximately between ____ and _____m or ____ and _____km.
4. The stratosphere begins at an altitude of approximately ______m or ___km.
5. Extend the lesson: How does the altitude of the troposphere and stratosphere near the equator compare with the
altitudes displayed in the mid-latitudes for the continental US? Are they similar or different?
Ocean Literacy Principles:
3 The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate
4 The ocean made earth habitable
OCEAN CIRCULATION
Adopt A Drifter tracking page
TAS Jacquelyn Hams deploys the Los
Angeles Valley College drifter buoy
(above).
Tracking page on the right shows drifter
track locations by latitude and longitude and
dates. Map on the bottom shows the drifter
location in the Indian Ocean.
Students track the Los Angeles Valley College drifter
deployed on the R/V Revelle through the NOAA Adopt
a Drifter Program at
http://www.adp.noaa.gov/track_drifting_buoys.html.
Drifter data can be used to compare and contrast data
from the Indian Ocean with other coastal cities using
climographs, modeling, and other activities.
Ocean Literacy Principles:
1 The Earth has one big ocean with many features
3 The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate
CONDUCTIVITY, TEMPERATURE, AND DENSITY
Specialized ocean profiling instruments designed and constructed by the microstructure group at the
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University were deployed on Leg 3 of
Project DYNAMO. The T-Chain (top left) measures CTD in the upper 10 m and takes data every 3
seconds. Although that is not very fast, the data is extremely accurate (within 1/1000th of a degree –
3/1,000th of a degree).
The graph below is a T-Chain plot from the R/V Revelle and represents a cross-section of the ocean. The graph
displays the temperature (top) salinity (middle) and density (bottom). The time interval is for a 24 hour period every 3
hours beginning at midnight. Students answer the following questions and compare answers with the class.
1. What relationships do you see between the 3 (temperature, density and
salinity?
2. Do the values change throughout the day? If so how? Make sure you
discuss the time of day (night, noon, late afternoon).
3. What layer of the ocean does this plot display? (Depth is on the Y axis).
4. At what depth does this layer interact with the layer beneath it? What is
the name of that layer of the ocean?
5. Which property changes the most throughout the day? Why?
Ocean Literacy Principles:
1 The Earth has one big ocean with many features
3 The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dr. Jim Moum, Oregon State University
NOAA Teacher at Sea Program http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/
United States Office of Naval Research
Indian Ocean images: Jacquelyn Hams
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