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Seniors Oceanography Packet Name______

Below is work not completed from Quarter 2.

Those of you have been notified of the pages you need to complete in order to earn credit.

A reminder you can only receive a maximum letter grade of D.

Pages 19 to 22 are to be used for the alternative exam assignment.

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Assignment 1: Currents Map Lab Procedure: A. Using the map provided on page 3, label all of the world’s currents by name. Color each current with the color that corresponds to the current’s temperature. Color the cool currents blue, and color the warm currents red. B. Next, answer all of the current questions below. Questions: 1. In the Northern Hemisphere, the circular pattern that gyres form from currents move in this direction: ______

2. What direction is the circular pattern that the gyres move in within the Southern Hemisphere? ______

3. In what latitudes do warm water currents originate? ______Why are they warm? ______

4. In what latitudes do cold water currents originate? ______Why are they cold? ______

5. Which current could circumnavigate the globe (carry a vessel around the world) without the assistance of any other current? ______

6. If you were traveling from to , which three currents would you take to arrive there? ______

7. Explain the Ekman spiral: ______What is the net movement of a current in an ? ______

8. If you were to drop a message in a bottle off the of Virginia, it would be carried by what current? ______In what direction? ______

9. Which global wind belt produces the current off of the coast of Virginia? ______

10. Which global wind belt produces the Brazil & South Equatorial currents? ______

11. Which currents would bring icebergs south from the North Polar region? ______

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Assignment 2: CURRENTS Article Ocean and play an essential role in sustaining life by moderating climate over much of Earth's surface. Two circulation patterns dominate the ocean: wind-driven currents in the upper ocean and density-driven currents in the deep ocean. Wind-driven currents are maintained by energy transferred by the winds to the ocean surface. Surface currents form gyres roughly centered in each ocean basin. Viewed from above, currents in these subtropical gyres flow in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and a counterclockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere. Global surface current patterns are driven by the wind, impacted by the barriers to water flow (land masses) & the rotation of the earth. Western boundary currents () are among the fastest surface currents in the ocean. Western boundary currents occur along the western boundaries of ocean basins and flow toward the poles - north in the Northern Hemisphere and south in the Southern Hemisphere. Water moving in these currents transport large amounts of heat from tropics to upper latitudes. Eastern Boundary currents ( current) are slower, shallower, and wider than western boundary currents. These currents transport colder waters from the poles to the tropics. Once there the water is heated and transported poleward in the western boundary currents.

How does this impact our lives? For centuries, people have used ocean surface currents to explore the world and transport goods to market. Today we use them to take the most efficient path to save fuel in the shipping industry, to win a sailboat race, and to track pollution such as oil spills or assist in search and rescue operations. Ocean surface currents contribute to studies of severe weather such as hurricanes, short-term climate phenomena such as El Niño, and long-term climate variability.

OCEAN EDDIES An eddy is a loop of current that is cut off from the main current; in other words a small, spinning current. They are comparatively tiny, short-lived circulation patterns in the ocean. Ocean eddies move at speeds of about 0.5 knots (about 0.9 kilometers or 0.6 miles per hour) and may occasionally persist for many months. Eddies can be over 300 km (about 200 mi) in diameter. Such large eddies can be seen easily from space by thermal infrared P a g e | 5 sensors. The picture above shows the Gulf Stream and many eddies. The Gulf Stream is a Western that separates two distinct water masses. The northwest water mass of nearshore water to the north is colder and more fertile than the water that is to the southeast of the Gulf Stream (called the ). The nearshore water has a temperature of less than 10°C (50°F), while the temperature of the Sargasso Sea ranges from 15°C to 25°C (59°F to 77°F). In general, whether an eddy is cold-core or warm-core depends on which side of the Gulf Steam the water came from. A cold-core eddy is a ring of Gulf Stream water that flows counterclockwise around a cold, less salty mass of water. It is formed when a branch of the warm Gulf Stream “wanders off” and captures a piece of colder water from the northwest. A cold ring can be tracked for months before it dissipates into the surrounding ocean waters. A cold ring traps the nutrient-rich water from north of the Gulf Stream and transports both nutrients and plankton into the relatively barren Sargasso Sea. A warm-core eddy forms when water from the edge of the Gulf Stream breaks off from the current and moves into the colder water. Because the current is warmer than the surrounding water it is called a warm-core eddy and has a clockwise flow. This eddy drifts towards the coast and usually dissipates within a few months as it collides with the shallow continental shelf. Warm-core eddies trap and transport a variety of different kinds of animals normally not seen in colder waters. Questions – Answer in complete sentences.

1. What are the two types of ocean circulation current patterns?

2. What is a western boundary current?

3. What is the driving force behind the Gulf Stream?

4. If you were the president of a company that used ships to transport all your goods explain why you would choose either a western boundary current or an eastern boundary current.

5. In what ways are ocean currents used today?

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6. What is an eddy?

7. What is the typical temperature of the water in the Sargasso Sea?

8. What does a cold core eddy transport?

9. Which direction does a warm core eddy flow?

10. What causes a warm core eddy to dissipate?

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Assignment 3: Alternative to Ocean Plastic Micro- Lab/SIO, Directions : Read the background, graph the data and answer the questions.

Background: Plastic debris in the (the Great Pacific Garbage Patch) are a concern at many levels. The introduction of plastic debris has recently become of interest to many studies and research expeditions. Gregory and Ryan (1997) reported that comprise 60-80% of . It is typically composed of fragments of manufactured plastic products. (McDermid & McMullen 2004). Most plastics do not biodegrade. Unless they are removed, they remain in the sea for hundreds of years, breaking up into ever-smaller particles (Leahy 2004). Plastic does not just disappear when it enters the ocean, but rather is broken down through processes such as photodegradation. Photodegradation is thought to be one of the driving forces behind plastic breakdown, and occurs when ultraviolet waves of light from the sun break apart the bonds that hold plastic together, causing it to be brittle. This type of degradation creates microscopic pieces, difficult to see with the naked eye, but continually traveling throughout the North Pacific Gyre.

The possibility of plastic accumulating in the ocean from countless sources raises many questions; notably because of the lack of effective methods to remove it. Information about the abundance and occurrence of plastic micro-debris particles, as well as quantitative information on how plastic particles change over time is limited (Gilfillan, 2009).

Data:

Quadrants <1mm 1mm-2mm 2.01mm-3mm 3..01mm-4mm >4mm Number of Pieces Number of 7 5 2 1 0 Styrofoam Quadrant Pieces A1 Number of 12 4 5 2 1 Plastic Pieces Number of 15 7 5 2 3 Styrofoam Quadrant Pieces A2 Number of 8 2 3 6 8 Plastic Pieces Number of 11 8 5 3 1 Styrofoam Quadrant Pieces B1 Number of 13 9 8 6 5 Plastic Pieces P a g e | 8

Number of 14 12 3 5 7 Styrofoam Quadrant Pieces B2 Number of 5 6 7 3 2 Plastic Pieces Number of 10 8 9 3 1 Styrofoam Quadrant Pieces C1 Number of 9 7 11 7 3 Plastic Pieces Number of 11 9 12 8 2 Styrofoam Quadrant Pieces C2 Number of 14 12 6 7 4 Plastic Pieces

Data Analysis Place the totals from the data on a chart like the one provided.

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Questions (answer in complete sentences for full credit) 1. Do scientists know how much plastic exists in the ocean?

2. Explain why plastic is such an issue in the ocean.

3. Explain how plastic breaks down in the ocean over a long period of time.

4. Which currents are most associated with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

5. Explain why America is more responsible for the trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch than Europe.

6. Explain why the problem of plastic trash in the oceans will not go away even if we put it off and do nothing about it for 10-15 years.

7. On average research ships use 1000 gallons of fuel per day (that’s a lot of fossil fuels)! Do you believe that the amount of fuel is worth using in order to study the Garbage Patch?

8. In the October 2009 issue of Rolling Stone, Captain Charles Moore argues that there is no way the Garbage Patch can be cleaned up because the collection of the small pieces of plastic is impossible. Explain whether you agree or disagree with this.

9. What are some ways we could prevent the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from becoming even larger?

10. Debris that avoid being pulled into the gyre continue to circulate around the Pacific Ocean and eventually wash up on beaches. Which of the two collections of plastic (the gyre verses on the shore) do you feel should have a greater priority in terms of clean up and why?

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Assignment 4: rubber ducky article What can 28,000 rubber duckies lost at sea teach us about our oceans? A shipping container filled with rubber duckies was lost at sea in 1992, and the bath toys are still washing ashore today. BRYAN NELSON March 1, 2011, 5:24 p.m. 6

In 1992, a shipping crate containing 28,000 plastic bath toys was lost at sea when it fell overboard on its way from Hong Kong to the . Oddly, these were a bonanza for scientists studying ocean surface currents. Typically oceanographers would release 500–1000 “drift bottles” and usually only recover around 2% or 10-20 bottles. The ducks however were durable, easily identifiable and drifting in large enough numbers to provide a lot of data.

So where did the ducks end up? Within 10 months some started landing on beaches in Alaska; over the next year, 400 were found along the Alaskan coast. Within three years, caught on the Subpolar Gyre, they began to wash ashore in . The toys also drifted to various beaches in . Between 1995 and 2000, some floated north of the Bering Strait and became frozen in the pack ice in the North Atlantic. By 2001, the bath toys were found on the coast of New England and by 2003 they were discovered on beaches in the islands North-west of Scotland.

The charismatic duckies have even been christened with a name, the "Friendly Floatees," by devoted followers who have tracked their progress over the years. "I have a website that people use to send me pictures of the ducks they find on beaches P a g e | 11 all over the world," said Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a retired oceanographer and Floatee enthusiast. This map details the extent of where the ducks have traveled so far:

Travel patterns of the Friendly Floatees. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Perhaps the most famous Floatees are the 2,000 of them that still circulate in the currents of the North Pacific Gyre — a vortex of currents that stretches between Japan, southeast Alaska, Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands that the plight of the duckies helped to identify. "We always knew that this gyre existed. But until the ducks came along, we didn't know how long it took to complete a circuit," said Ebbesmeyer. "It was like knowing that a planet is in the solar system but not being able to say how long it takes to orbit. Well, now we know exactly how long it takes: about three years."

Questions (answer in complete sentences) : 1. Why were the ducks more useful at mapping ocean currents than previous efforts?

2. What are FOUR of the locations the Floatees have been found in?

3. Explain which location is the most surprising to you where ducks have been found.

4. Use the map provided to explain where the rubber ducks first went overboard.

5. Explain how the Floatees have helped to map ocean currents.

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Assignment 5: and BNSG Video

Complete this video activity and the article on page 13

Video Link: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5uif7x or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0suwsnCzvuQ

Name: _ _

BNSG

0209 Ocean Currents While watching, complete this video guide.

Three things I knew A- that were confirmed in the video: B- _

C-

Three things I didn’t know A- but I now know because I watched the video. B- _

C-

∆ 1. Ocean water is water.

∆ 2. The heat from the sun condenses / evaporates the water in the ocean leaving only salt behind.

∆ 3. Ocean currents are caused by and the amount of salt in the water.

∆ 4. Warm air holds less / more heat than warm water.

∆ 5. An ocean _ is a river of water running through the ocean.

∆ 6. Very salty water is _than water that is not as salty.

∆ 7. Thermohaline currents are warm salty / cold fresh water ocean currents.

∆ 8. Data marker drift with ocean currents.

∆ 9. Fish depend on _ water, also known as currents, for food.

∆ 10. Rivers and lakes are not salty because the _ _ in the water flow to the ocean.

∆ 11. The amount of salt in the ocean has/has not changed.

∆ 12. The flow of currents in the northern and southern hemispheres are .

∆ 13. The most powerful , the Gulf Stream, is in the _ Ocean.

∆ 14. Sea level means that land is the same _ as the sea.

∆ 15. Earth is the only known planet with oceans that’s why Earth is the only planet with _.

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Read the article and follow directions. Thermohaline ocean circulation patterns have been previously however, how does the cold, dense, deep ocean water return to the surface. The answer is upwelling! Winds found along high pressure zones blow along coastlines and initiate upwelling. Color the illustration of upwelling. Color the wind black, the surface water a warm color (red, pink or orange) and the upwelled color a cool color ( blue or purple). Upwelling begins when a northwest wind blows along the shoreline and pushes against the surface later of water causing it to flow south, away from the direction of the wind. Because of the Coriolis effect, the water is deflected away from the shore. Then the off-shore flowing surface water is replaced by the colder water which wells up from below. In the aphotic zone, bacteria and other decomposers have broken down plant and animal tissues and released nutrients back into the ecosystem. However, these nutrients are only able to be used by plants and therefore they remain dissolved in the water until the water is upwelled back to the surface, sunlight layer. Once the nutrients have re-entered the photic zone, phytoplankton are able to use them during photosynthesis. Phytoplankton are microscopic drifting producers which means they are the basis for most ocean food chains. Color the abbreviated upwelling . Color the plankton green, the sardines light grey, the mackerel blue, sea lion dark grey or black, the cormorant brown, and the boat however you would like.

Questions. 1. What is upwelling?

2. What causes upwelling to occur?

3. What are phytoplankton?

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Assignment 6: Create a Plankton

Directions: Create a unique plankton in the space below by following this flow chart, then tell me more about your plankton on the back of this paper including: 1. Unique features or behaviors

2. Where found (ex. Deep sea, coral reefs, arctic, new planet ?!?, etc.)

3. If it is a meroplankton tell me what it grows into. If it is a holoplankton tell me its main predators

4. Explain 2 reasons why plankton are important

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Assignment 7: Coastal Features

1.______8.______2.______9.______3.______10.______4.______11.______5.______12.______6.______13.______7.______

Diagrams for this activity are on page 16

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Assignment 8: Weathering

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Assignment 9: Waves & Tides

In this activity you will plot a month's worth of tide data and use the resultant graph to answer questions.

1. Examine the tide data table on the back of this sheet. Find the highest high tide and the lowest low tide in the month. What is the difference between these two heights? 2. Draw and label the axes for the graph. The x-axis should be day of the month and the y-axis should be height of tide. Look in the table at the highest and lowest numbers for day and height to determine what scale to use for the axes. For many locations, a scale where each line on the x-axis represents one day and each line on the y-axis represents 1/2 meter will work well. 3. Now you are ready to plot your data. First plot the height of the first high tide of the month. Then skip the next high tide and plot the third high tide (this has been done for you). Continue this way, plotting every other high tide. When you finish, you should have one data point for high tide on each day of the month. 4. Next, repeat the procedure in Step 6 for low tides. 5. Label the spring tides and neap tides on your graph. (HINT: Remember that there are two spring tides and two neap tides each month.) 6. On your graph indicate where the New Moon, 1st Quarter, Full Moon and 3rd Quarter Moon would appear in the sky.

Analysis

1. What type of pattern do your graphs show?

2. Is the difference in height between high tide and low tide on a given day fairly constant over a month? Explain why or why not.

3. Are the dates of the highest high tide and highest low tide the same? Explain your results.

4. What is the date of the highest high tide in your graph? What is the date of the lowest low tide? Explain your results.

5. How many days are there between the two spring tides? Between the two neap tides? Explain your results.

6. What do you think the phase of the moon will be on the date of the highest high tide? On the date of the lowest high tide?

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7. Use your results from Step 6 to explain how the phase of the moon is related to the height of high tide.

Tidal Data

Date Day High Tide Low Tide Phase of Moon 2/8/09 Sun 13.1 1.3 Full 2/10/09 Tues 13.6 0.5 2/12/09 Thurs 13.4 0.3 2/14/09 Sat 12.8 1.1 2/16/09 Mon 11.6 2.3 2/18/09 Wed 10.5 3.5 2/20/09 Fri 10.2 4.0 2/22/09 Sun 10.7 3.5 2/24/09 Tues 11.6 2.6 2/26/09 Thurs 12.1 1.8 2/28/09 Sat 12.7 1.3 3/1/09 Mon 12.8 1.3 3/3/09 Wed 12.2 1.7 3/5/09 Fri 12.0 2.3 3/7/09 Sun 12.2 2.2 3/9/09 Tues 13.0 1.2

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Complete graph here

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Unit 3 Alternative test assignment: Write a 1000-word research paper on the influence oceanic currents have on scientific research (importance) and the different roles ocean currents play on oceanic circulation. -Must cite sources -plagiarism will result in a zero ______

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