Guest Scientists: Martin Visbeck and Michael Studinger
Originally presented 15 Nov 2003
Introductory Presentation by Dr. Michael J. Passow
Feel free to use any or all of our resources with your students. They are being organized here for your convenience. We just ask that you cite the source. You can also modify presentations to better accommodate your specific needs.
Content
Martin Visbeck: Climate in the Southern Hemisphere
Martin Visbeck has joined us in all of our past series to share his investigations about the climate change. Previous programs have explored his researches about the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Hudson River. Today, he will discuss recent efforts to understand changes in the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere and the implications for understanding climate patterns.
The Southern Ocean is the “other” region where deep and bottom waters are
formed. Cold winds blowing of the Antarctic continent cool the surface
waters until ice forms. As ice forms from sea water the salt is left behind making the water cold and salty which is the perfect combination to form very dense water. This dense water makes is way via some complicated interactions at the shelf break region into the world ocean and forms Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). AABW can be found in all major ocean basins below the (better known) North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). It returns to the surface near Antarctica after mixing with the warmer
NADW. This other “grand ocean conveyor” is less well known but might
circulate at an equal strength of about 10 Sv (1 Sv = 10^6 m^3/s) as the
lower NADW.
At Lamont we have begun monitoring the properties and amounts of AABW
formed in the Weddell Sea and are exploring the possibility to begin
instrumenting a second site to capture the waters leaving the Ross Sea.
Click here for more about Martin’s research.
Michael Studinger: Lake Vostok
Buried under 4 km (2 1/2 miles) of ice in the heart of the Antarctic continent lies Lake Vostok, one of the world’s biggest freshwater lakes. For up to 25 million years the Lake has been covered by an ice sheet and isolated from the atmosphere. In 1996 European satellite imagery confirmed the lake’s existence, sparking scientific inquiry into the Lake and its processes. Lamont scientists are using ice-penetrating radar data, and GPS measurements to study the melting and refreezing in the lake, and the direction of ice flow of the overlying glacier to understand better the dynamics of the water exchange system. The geologic origin of the lake provide important boundary conditions for the
ecosystem. The magnetic and gravity field of the Earth are used to interpret the geologic structures beneath the ice sheet.
Here are selected links to related LDEO research projects:
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~mstuding/
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~mstuding/vostok
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/vostok/vostok.swf
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/story3_2_01.html
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2003/story01-21-03.html
Technology Tips for the Classroom
by Dr. Cristiana Assumpção
Creating a WebQuest using E2C web resources
Several of the scientific concepts presented by today’s Guest Scientists lend themselves to a WEB QUEST.
A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing. It is a great teaching strategy and involves the student by practicing many of the 21st century skills. Creating a good WebQuest is very challenging yet one of the most rewarding types of good teaching integrated with technology.
For more about creating Web Quests and other educational technologies, see the tutorials in the MENTORING section of our website
http://www.earth2class.org/mentoring/technology.htm
Resources
LDEO’s extensive polar research programs can be accessed at:
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/polar_research.html
Here are some selected LDEO Southern Hemisphere Research sites:
Adgrav (Antarctic Digital Gravity Synthesis — Robin Bell, PI)
http://data.ldeo.columbia.edu/adgrav/
AnSlope (Cross-Exchanges at the Antarctica Slope) — Arnold Gordon, PI
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/fac/physocean/anslope/
Antarctic Multibeam Synthesis — Suzanne Carbonette, PI
http://data.ldeo.columbia.edu/antarctic/
Lake Vostok — Robin Bell, PI
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/vostok/
Here a few more links about LDEO Lake Vostok research:
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~mstuding/vostok
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/vostok/vostok.swf
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/story3_2_01.html
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2003/story01-21-03.html
Observational Physical Oceanography — Arnold Gordon
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/fac/physocean/
The Polar Climate Group — Doug Martinson
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/polar/
West Antarctic Ice Sheet Airborne Gravimetry — Robin Bell
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/WAIS/
Borehole Research Group — links to ODP Legs:
ODP Leg 177 (Southern Ocean Paleooceanography)http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/BRG/ODP/ODP/LEG_SUMM/177/leg177.html
ODP Leg 188 (Prydz Bay–Cooperation Sea, Antarctica)
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/BRG/ODP/ODP/LEG_SUMM/188/leg188.html
ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN FROM THE 2003 OPEN HOUSE
The Division of Ocean and Climate Physics Ocean created several interesting activities for children available at
http://rainbow.ldeo.columbia.edu/open_house/
CLIMATE KIDS CORNER
http://rainbow.ldeo.columbia.edu/climatekidscorner/
Evaluation
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Program Evaluation
Two external evaluators conducted formal assessments of the Earth2Class
program in conjunction with our NSF Geoscience Education Grant.
Read their reports:
Dr. Pearl R. Solomon
Professor Emeritus, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, NY
Dr. James Ebert
Earth Sciences Department, SUNY College at Oneonta, Onenta, NY
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