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Grade level: 5-8
Theme: climate
Video: atmosphere_ocean_fluids.flv

Currently we have a 50 degree Fahrenheit difference between the temperatures around the equator and the temperatures at the high latitudes near the poles. So that's 50 degrees Fahrenheit difference. Now without those fluids - so if the earth didn't have an atmosphere and the earth didn't have an ocean (which might not make it very livable) - but if we just had a solid land planet, that temperature difference would be 200 degrees Fahrenheit. So it really gives you an idea of how much work those fluids are doing and how much heat they're delivering from the equator to the poles.

Grade level: 5-8
Theme: climate
Video: salinity_and_climate_2.flv

One of the concerns we've had is whether or not the salinity changes will impact what's called the very large-scale ocean overturning circulation, what many people refer to as "the global ocean conveyer belt". And so that overturning of the ocean plays a large role in our climate. And not just (sort of) a climate that we think of in a really abstract sense but it really means a lot for the climate that we live in because that ocean overturning redistributes the heat.

Grade level: 5-8
Theme: climate
Video: salinity_and_climate_1.flv

When these waters at very high latitudes - (your) Greenland, Iceland - when they sink in the wintertime (it's) because they are very dense. Those waters sink, they spread to the global ocean and (eventually) they need to return. When they return, they are returning in the surface waters. That's why it's referred to as an "overturning".

So these warm waters are returning at the surface, going back to those high latitudes in the Norwegian and Greenland seas. And when they're doing that, when they're returning, they're bringing very warm water with them. Because that return means they're coming through the equatorial regions of the tropics where the atmosphere is very warm and the oceans are warmed.

So when those warm waters are returning, as they're moving up to the higher and higher latitudes, then they're releasing that heat to the atmosphere. Then the winds blow over the ocean, they pick up that heat, and those winds over the Atlantic Ocean are moving from the North American continent to the European continent. So these westerly winds are picking up that heat and moisture and dumping it all over the British Isles and northern Europe. So if there's any change to that overturning circulation, that means that northern Europe and the British Isles would be robbed of that heat, due to those waters that are returning to the high latitudes.

Grade level: 5-8
Theme: climate
Flat Tool: http://ourocean.jpl.nasa.gov/AQUARIUS/chp1.jsp
GoogleEarth Interface Tool: http://aquarius.jpl.nasa.gov/AQUARIUS_DEV/chp1.jsp

Interactive maps of surface conditions can be clicked to create in-water profiles of salinity, temperature, or density. Sources include interpolated atlas data or actual measurements from the database.

Focus Questions | Flat Tool Tutorial

Grade level: 5-8
Theme: climate
Activity: documents/vtop_coastal_v_inland_temps.pdf

In this activity, students will use the weather section of the newspaper to help discover why coastal regions have relatively moderate climates. They will construct models of the ocean and the land to measure the different cooling and warming rates of each.

Grade level: 5-8
Theme: climate
Activity: documents/vtop_oc_currents_coastal_temp.pdf

The surface currents of the major ocean basins show similarities to the prevailing wind systems that drive them. Contained by continental boundaries and deflected by Earth's rotation, these surface currents flow in large, roughly circular patterns called gyres. Gyres play an important role in redistributing heat from the low to middle and high latitudes, thus influencing air temperature, weather, and climate.

After completing this investigation, students should be able to (1) demonstrate the influence of wind on ocean currents, and (2) describe the typical gyre circulation of surface currents in two major ocean basins.