OCEANS

Classroom Activities: SeaWiFS Studying Ocean Color From Space
Fact sheets with a question and answer section at the end. The activity consists of building simple greenhouses, measuring and comparing differences. Materials were "prepared for teachers of grades 9-10 by NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth's Education Office."
seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS/LIVING_OCEAN/LIVING_OCEAN.html

Cold Seeps: A Tour Through the Cold-Seep Habitats in the Gulf of Mexico
Wonderful photographs enrich this visit to biotic communities that don't require photosynthesis to get along. Quicktime videos also show scientists at work. From Penn State University. Quicktime is downloadable from the site.
www.bio.psu.edu/cold_seeps/

Deep Sea Pages
Explains the nature of ecosystems in the deep sea. Information provided may be of interest to geology students (there are some biotic communities that inhabit hydrothermal vents). Discusses adaptations by deep sea fish to withstand the physical pressure of their environment. Some might find the appearance of these deep sea creatures a little terrifying. By a Whitman College professor of biology.
www.bmi.net/yancey/

Extreme Science: The Deepest Fish
A great introduction to deep-sea biological research. A bug-eyed fish (who expanded from pressure changes on its journey to the ocean surface) may be a little too graphic for the sensitive student, but it's a fine example of just what a different world the deep sea environment is.
www.extremescience.com/DeepestFish.htm

Into the Abyss
Meet the denizens of the deep and the scientists who are exploring their (literally) high-pressure environment. By the folks at the PBS television series NOVA.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/abyss/frontier/

Marine Animals at the MBL
View a wealth of photographs of marine organisms, arranged taxonomically. From the Marine Resources Department of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, MA.
database.mbl.edu/SPECIMENS/phylum.taf?function=form

Neptune's Web - An Oceanographic Voyage in Learn
A Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command project. This site offers a searchable database, an ocean quiz, an encyclopedia of oceanography and a teacher's area with oceanography lesson plans.
pao.cnmoc.navy.mil/educate/neptune/neptune.htm

Ocean Planet
Rich source from the Smithsonian on marine life, eco perils, more. Don't miss it!
Keyword search through their catalog of photos, objects/artifacts and illustrations.
seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/ocean_planet_image_catalog_form
.html
Try the Topic Outline for vast number of highly specific areas.
seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/ocean_planet_topic_outline.html

TOPEX/Poseidon
A 3 year cooperative project between the U.S. and France to study ocean circulation and its interaction with the atmosphere using a satellite system to observe the Earth's oceans. In their own words, "The mission provides global sea level measurements with an unprecedented accuracy. The data from TOPEX/Poseidon is used to determine global ocean circulation and to understand how the oceans interact with the atmosphere. This understanding will improve our ability to predict global climate."
topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

Water Sciences for Schools ('M' 'H')
From the USGS, "information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge." Check out the "Water Cycle" (produced in many languages).
topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
Versión en Español: http://water.usgs.gov/gotita/