This activity will help students to understand that ocean water is sampled for chemicals and organisms. The sampling device must gather enough water for conducting all the tests, the depth at which the sample was gathered must be accurately known, the temperature at time of collection must be known, and it must not allow contaminants to enter as it is being brought up on deck. Students will design ... Full description.

In this lesson, students will discover the basics of the methane-based chemosynthetic processes and learn how organisms in cold seep communities obtain energy from methane. As they proceed, they should be able to define the process of chemosynthesis, and contrast this process with photosynthesis. Students will also explain the process of methane-based chemosynthesis and explain the relevance of chemosynthesis ... Full description.

In this lesson students discover what factors are indicative of chemotrophic nutritional strategies. Students will be able to describe at least three chemotrophic symbioses known from deep-sea habitats. They will identify and explain three indicators of chemotropic nutrition. This hands-on activity uses online data resources and includes: focus questions, background information, evaluations and extensions, ... Full description.

In this lesson, students will investigate hydrothermal vents to see how the chemistry of the water they emit provides clues to the location of the vents. They should be able to describe hydrothermal vents and characterize vent plumes in terms of physical and chemical properties; describe data gathering operations in which a towed instrument package ("tow-yo") measures conductivity, temperature, and ... Full description.

This lesson on the cause of currents and water circulation in the Arctic Ocean will require students to investigate the influence of salinity and temperature on the density of seawater to determine what factors drive water circulation in the Arctic Ocean. Students identify the primary driving forces for ocean currents and infer the type of water circulation to be expected in the Arctic Ocean, given ... Full description.

This glossary provides short definitions of the oceanographic jargon used to describe ocean surface currents. It is designed to accompany the website "Ocean Surface Currents", a reference that provides information on surface currents in the world's oceans. Full description.

This activity demonstrates to students how water temperature and the concentration of dissolved and suspended solids affect the density of sea water. They will use various materials, such as salt and food coloring, to create and test water of different densities and record the time it takes drops of different water to sink through a mineral oil cylinder. In the second part of the activity, students ... Full description.

This interactive map viewer allows users to visualize and download in-situ oceanographic or atmospheric data from a Dapper OpenDap server. The map can be zoomed or dragged, with an in-situ station layer that allows selection of data stations, and a plot window that allows users to plot data from one or more stations. Datasets (temperature, salinity, current, chemistry) include realtime global Argo ... Full description.

The U.S. Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) program developed this website as a clearinghouse of ocean acidification news and information to support the scientific research and the education communities. Included are Resources for Educators, Labs, Datasets, Multimedia, FAQs and Educational Program information. Full description.

This article introduces the topic of ocean acidification, defined as the increasing hydrogen ion concentration in the world's oceans due to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) arising from human activities. Included are several references to journal articles and other website for further study. Full description.