This lesson incorporates techniques and experimental designs used by researchers during the Southern Ocean Diatoms PolarTREC expedition and during post-expedition laboratory analysis. This guided inquiry lesson provides students the opportunity to explore photosynthesis and primary productivity using techniques to measure chlorophyll levels.
Objectives
SWBAT:
1. Use models to predict chlorophyll levels in the global oceans
2. Identify
Understanding Physical and Chemical Parameters of Ocean Water Using CTD Profiles
Overview
A focus of the PolarTREC Southern Ocean Diatoms expedition was to collect water samples and physical profile data using oceanographic technology. Oceanographers rely on the real-time data transferred from the water column to the ship-based computers using a CTD sensor. The CTD measures conductivity (salinity), temperature and depth
The attached Polar Oceans flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, provides summary information about the Polar Oceans and describes how the circulation in polar waters exerts a powerful control on the Earth's climate and carbon cycle. Activities attached to the flyer demonstrate the interconnectedness of marine life in the oceans and how the Polar Regions affect
The attached Lands and Life flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of terrestrial polar ecosystems, from southern cold maritime islands to dry continental deserts in Antarctica and from tree line across the continental tundra to remote northern islands in the Arctic. An attached activity allows students to build a small scale model of
The attached Ice Sheets flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of information about ice sheets in both the Arctic and Antarctica, followed by an activity which allows students to make their own realistic model of an ice sheet with commonly available materials.
The attached Changing Earth flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of the history of planet Earth and an activity involving the use of a rope as a timeline to represents the Earth’s history from the present to 65 million years ago.
This PDF handout and activity provides background information about polar weather and climate followed by an activity to help students consider their own local weather vs. polar weather. Students will observe the weather where they live and report on basic meteorological data such as air temperature, precipitation, wind etc. and use a weather map to compare their local weather to
Students will observe how soils and rocks of different densities behave in wind and in water. They will make predictions and careful observations as they learn about sediment transport and sediment rates in streams and rivers.
Even in Antarctica ice will melt. As the sun stays higher and higher in the sky as summer progresses, the warm sun causes the ice to melt. The questions that we are going to ask are: 1) Does clean ice (no sediment) or dirty ice (has sediment mixed in it) melt faster? and 2) Would the ice melt if
For this experiment, we are going to melt dirty ice (ice with lots of sediment/dirt in it) and clean ice (ice without sediment) from the Taylor Glacier. After we melt the ice, we are going to test the melt water for pH and conductivity, and then determine how much salt is actually in our ice samples. There are