Imagery Outline Background on satellite imaging 5 mins

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 Sputnik I Explorer I – 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

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. g sfc. nasa. gov/gi ovanni

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.