This undergraduate class is designed to introduce students to the physics that govern the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. The focus of the course is on the processes that control the climate of the planet.
Acknowledgments
Prof. Ferrari wishes to acknowledge that this course was originally designed and taught by Prof. John Marshall.

"This undergraduate class is designed to introduce students to the physics that govern the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. The focus of the course is on the processes that control the climate of the planet.AcknowledgmentsProf. Ferrari wishes to acknowledge that this course was originally designed and taught by Prof. John Marshall."

This course explores the physical processes that control Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and climate. Quantitative methods for constructing mass and energy budgets. Topics include clouds, rain, severe storms, regional climate, the ozone layer, air pollution, ocean currents and productivity, the seasons, El Ni–o, the history of Earth's climate, global warming, energy, and water resources.

This OLogy activity shows kids that there are simple, but very helpful things they can do to protect the ocean -- even if they live nowhere near the water. The activity opens by introducing kids to Gabby, a future marine biologist who wants to study dolphins. Then it has a checklist of 14 ways kids can be ocean helpers that includes asking for tap water instead of bottled water and leaving plants and animals where they find them.

This problem-based learning module is designed to master the Ohio Learning standard of Science in Earth and Space Science number 2, Cycles and Patterns of Earth and the Moon. Thermal-energy transfers in the ocean and the atmosphere contribute to the formation of currents, which influence global climate patterns. Students will be exploring the various factors affecting the climate patterns we experience due to thermal energy. Students will work independently as well as with a partner. The final product is expected to be presented to their peers and teachers. This blended module includes teacher-led instruction, student-led stations, real world data analysis and technology integrated investigations.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, fungi are essential for nutrient cycling, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil. In contrast, in marine environments, fungi are often considered to be associated with debris and less essential to the element cycle than other microbes such as prokaryotes and phytoplankton. A recent study sought to better understand the role of open-sea, or pelagic, fungi in carbon cycling in the ocean. Using multi-omics techniques and existing genomic datasets, researchers performed a global analysis of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) – key enzymes in carbon cycling – in ocean fungi. They found that pelagic fungi are active in carbohydrate degradation, as indicated by a high ratio of CAZyme transcripts..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students consider the Earth's major types of landforms such as mountains, rivers, plains, hills, canyons, oceans and plateaus. Student teams build three-dimensional models of landscapes, depicting several of these landforms. Once the models are built, they act as civil and transportation engineers to design and build roads through the landscapes they have created. The worksheet is provided in English and Spanish.

Earth Systems and Changes from Educational Service District 123, provides professional learning resources for K-5 teachers around elementary Earth Science and Climate Science related standards content.

It also provides learning to assist in the development of classroom tasks: Claims, Evidence Reasoning, and Models and Explanations, that can be used formatively to elicit student ideas and to support changes in student thinking over time.

License: License: Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY)
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This activity proposes different small experiments and discussions to show that in the summer it is cooler by the sea than on the land and that water cools off more slowly than soil.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Corals form diverse and valuable communities at all ocean depths. Unfortunately, they face a variety of threats, including increasing ocean temperatures, disease, and pollutants from human activities. But another less-expected threat may cause stress to ocean corals. Apicomplexans are a large group of parasites that cause major human diseases including malaria and toxoplasmosis. But these species don’t always live as human parasites – they also live among coral in tropical reefs. How the microbes can mitigate or exacerbate stress on coral communities, particularly those in deeper ocean environments, is unknown. A recent study evaluated the coral-residing microbes in deep-sea corals from the Gulf of Mexico. DNA sequencing identified 23 different types of apicomplexans, each with different patterns of niche and host. Some closely related microbes associated only with closely related corals, while others were present on a variety of coral types..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Microbial interactions play a crucial role in the functioning and biogeochemical cycling of Earth's ecosystem. But these connections are highly dynamic and poorly understood. A clear picture of how microbes interact over time could help gain insight into processes that influence nutrient cycling, productivity, and the overall health of marine ecosystems. Researchers investigated microbial dynamics in the Mediterranean Sea on a monthly basis over 10 years. To pinpoint persistent, seasonal, and temporary microbial associations, the researchers identified a temporal network capturing the interactomes of each sample. This network followed an annual cycle that collapsed and reassembled with changes in water temperature. And microbial associations were more repeatable in colder versus warmer months. However, only 16 associations could be validated in the literature, underlining a serious knowledge gap in marine microbial ecological interactions..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is a gas produced by bacteria and algae that gives the ocean its distinctive scent. It also plays an important role in cloud formation, leading scientists to think its production may be instrumental in regulating climate change. But sea ice melt in the polar oceans under global warming has led to a reduction in DMS production, which may further intensify climate warming. To gain a better understanding of how bacteria contribute to DMS production, scientists recently investigated the distribution of bacterial genes involved in DMS cycling in seawater samples collected from around the world. They found evidence that intense DMS cycling facilitated predominantly by Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria occurs in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, with high involvement of the enzymes DMSP demethylase, DMSP lyases, and trimethylamine monooxygenase..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Our planet is becoming hot. In fact, Earth may be warming faster than ever before. This warming will challenge society throughout the 21st century. How do we cope with rising seas? How will we prepare for more intense hurricanes? How will we adapt to debilitating droughts and heat waves? Scientists are striving to improve predictions of how the environment will change and how it will impact humans. Earth in the Future: Predicting Climate Change and Its Impacts Over the Next Century is designed to provide the state of the art of climate science, the impact of warming on humans, as well as ways we can adapt. Every student will understand the challenges and opportunities of living in the 21st century.

Between 70 and 75% of the Earth's surface is covered with water and there exists still more water in the atmosphere and underground in aquifers. In this lesson, students learn about water bodies on the planet Earth and their various uses and qualities. They will learn about several ways that engineers are working to maintain and conserve water sources. They will also think about their role in water conservation.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Over 470 million years ago, during the geological period known as the Ordovician, vast oceans dominated the globe. This period saw the rapid emergence of many life forms. In fact, fossil evidence suggests a tremendous expansion of marine life, unparalleled for hundreds-of-millions-of-years. But what led to this explosion of biodiversity? Scientists now believe it may have been abrupt climatic cooling and the onset of icehouse conditions that lit the fuse. Many past studies have concluded that a major increase in marine fauna began sometime during the mid-Ordovician. The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, as it’s called, forever changed the biological composition and structure of oceans, with the evolution of many animal groups still present today such as jawed fish, corals, and cephalopods. Historical factors responsible for this event, however, have been highly debated..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students take part in a hypothetical scenario that challenges them to inform customers at a local restaurant of how their use and disposal of plastics relates/contributes to the Great Pacific garbage patch (GPGP). What students ultimately do is research information on the plastics pollution in the oceans and present that information as a short, eye-catching newsletter suitable to hand out to restaurant customers. This activity focuses on teaching students to conduct their own research on a science-technology related topic and present it in a compelling manner that includes citing source information without plagiarism. By doing this, students gain experience and skills with general online searching as well as word processing and written and visual communication.

The ocean's resources are slowly being depleted. This curriculum examines the issue of overfishing and its impact on both the environment and human life. In developing sustainable solutions, the students address the driving question: "How can we as youth, sustain the future of the world's ocean through our actions today?"

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a fossil found among the Grand Canyon's rock layers reveals the existence of a shallow sea that once covered most of western North America.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is an intriguing and publicized environmental problem. This swirling soup of trash up to 10 meters deep and just below the water surface is composed mainly of non-degradable plastics. These plastic materials trap aquatic life and poison them by physical blockage or as carriers of toxic pollutants. The problem relates to materials science and the advent of plastics in modern life, an example of the unintended consequences of technology. Through exploring this complex issue, students gain insight into aspects of chemistry, oceanography, fluids, environmental science, life science and even international policy. As part of the GIS unit, the topic is a source of content for students to create interesting maps communicating something that they will likely begin to care about as they learn more.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Coral reefs are important ocean ecosystems. However, they have been declining in recent years due to human activities, including elevated nitrate in the water. Corals maintain complex relationships with numerous microbes, including the dinoflagellate algae Symbiodiniaceae and bacteria. To better understand the impact of nitrate on coral and their resident microbes, researchers recently examined coral and microbial gene expression changes in larval Pocillopora damicornis. Under elevated nitrate conditions, the Symbiodiniaceae algae generally hoarded more nutrients for its own growth. Normally Symbiodiniaceae share nutrients with the coral, so this was a shift from a mutualistic relationship to a parasitic one, which led to impaired development in the larval coral. However, the prokaryotic microbes might reduce this negative interaction by restraining Symbiodiniaceae growth, which partially restores coral larval development..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.