This lesson plan is designed to teach students about the importance of the benthic community in the shallow portions of the Arctic and how climate change may affect their respiration. One of the dominant benthic animals in the Arctic, the bivalve Macoma sp., is an important food source for higher trophic level organisms such as walrus and Spectacled Eiders
This lesson plan is designed to teach students about benthic biodiversity in the Arctic by analyzing data from the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO). Although you can’t see them from the surface, the organisms found on the ocean floor are important indicators of ecosystem health and provide information about productivity. Students will explore sites throughout the Bering and Chukchi Seas
Density currents drive 3D movements within the world’s oceans that dwarf surface currents by volume. Density-driven movements due to temperature/salinity differences keep the world’s oceans well mixed & help to re-distribute heat from tropical areas towards polar areas. Resultant upwelling creates some of the world’s richest ocean ecosystems. Density movements known as turbidity currents are the world’s largest
Many students are familiar with topographic maps showing relief of land surfaces. In this lab they will produce their own bathymetric maps, the underwater equivalent. A bathymetric map shows sea floor features by contouring depths below sea level (instead of elevation above sea level as in topographic maps). Students will first probe depths in “Mystery Bay”, a box
The students' task is to produce a brochure for both the Arctic and the Antarctic. These brochures will be used by the representatives of "Here We Go Travel" to advertise the virtues of traveling to both polar regions. The students will produce a 45 second radio spot that they will write and record as part of their overall