WATER MOVEMENT 1 How does water move in the Great Lakes basin? You are familiar with the water cycle. The sun heats the surface of the earth, water evaporates, water vapor rises in the atmosphere cools and condenses, precipitation falls and then water flows in the streams, rivers, lakes and oceans. In this activity you will find out how water moves in the Great Lakes system. OBJECTIVES When you complete this activity you will be able to • Locate and identify the Great Lakes on a map. • Identify the connecting waters. • Define water basin. • Begin an analysis of the flow of water. Authors PROCEDURE Richard Meyer and Rosanne W. Fortner 1. A basin is the area that a lake or river drains. Look at the direction that the rivers flow on your map and draw the basin Earth Systems Understandings lines around the Great Lakes so that all rivers that drain into This activity focuses on ESU's 3 and 4 the lakes are enclosed and any river that does not drain into (scientific process and interacting sub- the Great Lakes is outside of the basin. Each lake basin systems). should be outlined in a different color. Materials 2. Compare your map with that of other students and resolve • Copies of the Map of the Great Lakes any differences you detect. Discuss the great differences in area. (One per student.) watershed sizes. Does the biggest watershed determine the • Colored pencils or markers. biggest lake? What other factors may be involved in lake • Copies of activity data charts. size? • Paper, rulers and other supplies for student chart / diagram making. • Atlas or Maps of Great Lakes area. 3. Locate the following and label them on your map. Lakes: Erie, Georgian Bay, Huron, Michigan, Nipigon, Teacher Notes Ontario, St. Clair, Superior. You might want to follow this activity with the activity Out One Lake and In Another - Rivers and Connections: Mackinac, Niagara, St. Lawrence, How long does it take water to flow through St. Marys, Detroit. the Great Lakes? Jigsaw: Students could work in expert 4. If you did not know which way the water flowed through the groups, each group assigned a different lake lakes, what information would you need to find your an- to focus on and then return to base groups to swer? put together an over all map and to share what they found significant about their lake. Ohio Sea Grant Education Program © The Ohio State University , 1996 2 EARTH SYSTEMS – EAGLS Ohio Sea Grant Education Program © The Ohio State University , 1996 WATER MOVEMENT 3 5. Examine Table 1 about the Great Lakes water system and Teacher Note choose some part of the data set that you find significant, develop a chart, diagram or some other meaningful way to 4. Elevation of lakes is the most logical. display the chosen data. (Table 2 provides you with some 5. Students may find that some of the numbers do not add up. (Input does not background information about the Great Lakes. You may always equal output.) Have them want to use it to help analyze Table 1.) hypothesize possible explanations (groundwater inflow and outflow, 6. Share your chart, diagram or display with the class demon- numbers rounded off, human use, etc.). strating how/why the data were significant to you. The hypotheses could be used for further exploration. The Great Lakes Water Runoff Precipitation Inflow Evaporation Outflow System (Figures are in thousands of cubic into lake into lake from from lake meters per second) upstream lake Lake Superior 1.4 2.1 0.2 1.4 2.2 Lake Michigan 1.0 1.5 ---- 1.2 1.6 Lake Huron 1.4 1.5 3.7 1.2 5.3 Lake Erie 0.7 0.7 5.3 0.7 6.0 Lake Ontario 0.9 0.5 5.8 0.4 7.1 Table 1 - The Great Lakes Water System Physical Data Superior Michigan Huron Erie Ontario Elevation (meters) 183 176 176 173 74 Length (kilometers) 563 494 332 388 311 Breadth (kilometers) 257 190 245 92 85 Avg. Depth (meters) 147 85 59 19 86 Max. Depth (meters) 406 282 229 64 244 Volume (km3) 12,100 4,920 3,540 484 1,640 Surface Area (km2) 82,100 57,800 59,600 25,700 18,960 Drainage Area (km2) 127,700 118,000 134,100 78,000 64,030 Total (km2) 209,800 175,800 193,700 103,700 82,990 Shoreline (km) 4,385 2,633 6,157 1,402 1,146 Retention (years) 191 99 22 2.6 6 Population 1980/81 738,540 13,970,900 2,372,119 12,968,606 6,642,175 1990/91 607,121 10,057,026 2,694,154 11,682,169 8,150,895 Table 2 - Physical Data of the Great Lakes (Data for Table 1 and 2 from: The Great Lakes - An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, 1987 and 1995, US EPA & Environment Canada) Ohio Sea Grant Education Program © The Ohio State University , 1996 4 EARTH SYSTEMS – EAGLS Elevations of the Great Lakes 200 Series 1 M e t 100 e r s 183 176 176 173 74 0 Superior Michigan Huron Erie Ontario Example 1 of student data comparison for #5. Completed using ClarisWorks spreadsheet and entering the data from Table 2 Comparison of Evaporation to Volume in the Great Lakes Volume Evaporation Superior Michigan Huron Erie Ontario The volume of Lake Superior is over 50% of the total Great Lakes volume compared to the evaporation where it is much less in comparison to the other lakes. Lake Erie on the other hand has a very small volume compared to the other lakes but a high evaporation rate. Why? Example 2 of student data comparison for #5. Completed using ClarisWorks spreadsheet and entering the data to be compared from Table 1 and Table 2. Ohio Sea Grant Education Program © The Ohio State University , 1996 Summary: Materials: (teams of 2-3 students) Students use a simple model to discover that air • 5-6 quart clear plastic shoebox (1 per team) moving over water causes the surface of the water • Water (to fill shoeboxes approximately ¾ full) to move horizontally. In writing and in a discussion, • Black construction paper (I per team) students relate this concept to surface currents in • Bendable straws (1 per student) the ocean and the Great Lakes. • Paper towels (for clean up) Student Learning Outcomes: • Newspaper (to cover table/desk) • Going with the Flow Data Sheets 1-3 – (1 per Students will be able to student) • Relate the motion of surface currents (cause) to the • For Activity 1: Aluminum foil (Each team crumples motion of objects floating in the ocean and Great 20 one-inch squares into 10 loose balls that will Lakes (effect) float and 10 tight balls that will sink.) • Relate the transfer of energy from wind moving • For Activity 2: Rheoscopic fluid (Dilute 150 ml of across water (cause) to the horizontal movement of rheoscopic fluid in 3 L of water per team; the diluted water (effect) fluid can be reused.) • Use the term “surface current” to explain horizontal movement of surface water caused by wind Purchase Note: You can purchase rheoscopic • Explain that surface currents affect surface water, (convection) fluid from many online vendors for not deep water approximately $10/L: Standards: • Arbor Scientific - www.arborsco.com (# P8-5000) Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and • Carolina Biological - www.carolina.com Fundamental Concepts (# GEO8450) • The Earth has one big ocean with many features. • Educational Innovations - www.teachersource.com (# RH-100) National Science Education Standards • Fisher Scientific - www.fishersci.com • (K-4) Position and motion of objects (# S4520 or S4521) • (5-8) Structure of the earth system • (5-8) Motions and forces • (5-8) Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry Grade Level: 3-5 Time: 1-2 class periods (45 minutes each) For more information, please visit: www.windows.ucar.edu/ocean_education.html Going with the Flow Page 1 © 2008 Eastern Michigan University and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research All Rights Reserved Activity 1 – Directions and Procedure 1. Build the model: • Fill the ocean basin (shoe box) ¾ full with ocean water (water). • Add the aluminum balls. • Make sure that some sink to the bottom (deep water) and some float (surface water) – (Figure 1). Figure 1: Some of the aluminum balls should • Place the black paper under the model to improve visibility. sink and some should float. 2. Relate the model to reality: Lead the class to complete the following graphic organizer and/or analogy notation on the board or overhead, prior to beginning the activity. Graphic Organizer: MODEL REALITY (students answer) Box Ocean Basin or Great Lake basin Water Ocean or Great Lakes water Air moving through the straw Constant wind Floating aluminum balls Objects floating with the surface current or surface water molecules Sunk aluminum balls Objects deep in the ocean or deep water molecules Analogy Notation: Box : Lake Michigan Basin :: Air moving through straw : ______________ Answer: Constant wind Box : Lake Michigan Basin :: Floating aluminum balls : ______________ Answer: Objects floating in the ocean or Great Lake or surface water molecules Box : Lake Michigan Basin :: Sunk aluminum balls : ______________ Answer: Objects deep in the ocean or Great Lake/deep water molecules Box : Lake Michigan Basin:: water : ________________ Answer: Ocean or Great Lakes Water 3. Simulate wind: • The water begins still. • Students place the shorter section of the bendable straws parallel to the surface of the water. • One student in the team blows through the straw to simulate wind. Students blow horizontally (not down into the water) with the tip of the straw near the surface of the water and near the edge of the basin (shoe box) (Figure 2).