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.