Exploration Last: Snapshot of the earth redux

In the 'old days' (i.e. before 1993) it was difficult to visualize the current state of the earth. With satellites, real-time number crunching,and the world wide web, we can have a snapshot of the earth.
However, we are going to look with more detail at the interacting spheres of our Earth.

In this exploration you will explore resources on the WWW to form an image for yourself of :

Where the earth is in space

State of the lithosphere

State of the hydrosphere

State of the atmosphere, both globally and locally

State of the biosphere.

Part I. Earth in Space

1. Where is earth in relationship to the inner (terrestrial) planets?

To answer this, go to Solar System Live. To use Solar System Live, you need a graphical Web browser with forms support and the ability to display GIF images. In particular, go to this page. Don't worry about all the settings, just look at the image displayed and sketch the approximate position of the planets on Diagram 1.

1a. Where in its orbit was the earth in early January? How far has it moved (half its orbit? 80 % of its orbit?) since then?

2. What is the relationship of the Sun to the Earth-Moon system at this time?

To answer this, we go to the Chabot Space and Science Center virtual planetarium in Oakland, CA. Sketch in the approximate position of the Moon and the % illuminated in Diagram 2.

2a. What phase was the moon in when you did this exercise before? Approximately how many times has the moon gone around its orbit of the earth since January?

3. Space weather now

What is space weather? It is related to the flux of energy and energetic particles thrown out by the Sun. The Sun has an 11-year period of high and low activity. If it were not for our protective atmosphere we would be exposed to:

Geomagnetic Storms: disturbances in the geomagnetic field caused by gusts in the solar wind that blows by Earth.

Solar Radiation Storms: elevated levels of radiation that occur when the numbers of energetic particles increase.

Radio Blackouts: disturbances of the ionosphere caused by X-ray emissions from the Sun.

3a. Clearly, astronauts and people controlling satellites need to worry about this. But sometimes the everyday person does too. Why? (See space weather category G5, S5, and G1)

3b. So the space weather today is:

NOAA Scales	Maximum in past 24-hours	Currently
Geomagnetic Storms
Solar Radiation Storms
Radio Blackouts

Note also there is a map of the aurora (Northern Lights).

Part II. The Solid earth - Lithosphere

It sure seems that the planet is solid and unchanging - but let's look at current earthquake and volcano activity. Before you surf to the following pages, write down your guess here: How many medium to large earthquakes (all over the world) do you think happen each week? ________
How many volcanoes are active right now? ______

4. Go to the USGS Earthquake Hazard Program, Worldwide Earthquake Activity in the Last Seven Days World map.

The USGS also has text listing that also provides much more information.

How many earthquakes are listed for today? ____ For yesterday? _____
(If you are doing this exercise very early in the AM, use data for yesterday and the day before.)

Keep in mind this list does not include smaller earthquakes! Magnitude is explained here.

(This listing generally publishes most earthquakes in the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and the more populated areas of Alaska of magnitude 4.5 or greater, most other earthquakes in the United States of magnitude 5.5 or greater, and most foreign earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 or greater. In practice, many foreign earthquakes smaller than a magnitude of 6.5 are also here.)

5. How many major (magnitude 7) earthquakes have happened already this year? This web site lists this information. How many people have died in 2004 (so far) from earthquake injuries?

(Keep scrolling down the page). In January, there was only one mag 7 EQ.

2003 was one of deadliest years for earthquakes. How many mag 7 earthquakes in 2003? ______ How many mag 8 earthquakes (very rare!) in 2003? ____ How many died directly from earthquakes in 2003? _______ (Keep in mind this # does not include disease etc. attributable to infrastructure damage from an earthquake).

6. Active volcanoes

A volcano may be active for some period of time, and activity varies (gas/ash plumes, lava flows, and so on). The Smithsonian weekly volcanic activity report lists how many volcanoes? ____

Part III. The Hydrosphere

The hydrosphere/atmosphere system is complexly interlinked. We will look at some aspects of the oceans, sea ice, and surface water.

Sea surface temperature

Before the internet, before the launch of so many satellites, you could never even hope to get this kind of real-time data.

7. Go to a map of current sea-surface temperatures. The color coded temperature scale is at the bottom. We will record temperatures now and later compare them to December values.

What is the approximate sea surface temperature:

Around Florida? ______ The Panama Canal?______

Hawaii? _____ The Southern tip of S. America? _____

Great Britian/Ireland?_____ The Persian gulf? _______

New Zealand?_____

If you do not know these places, consult a World map. Follow the links at this about.com web site.

8. We will also plot sea ice extent in the North and South polar regions, and compare these to December maps.

US Navy map of Northern ice
Sketch the approximate extent on diagram 3. (does not have to be exact!)

US Navy map of Southern ice
Sketch the approximate extent on diagram 4.

8a. Compare to January diagrams. Roughly estimate how much (in %) the ice cover has increased/decreased in each place.

Water movement; tides and currents

9. What is the current tidal conditions on the east coast?

Go to Tides On-line and click on the "East" link in the upper left corner. Check out the tides at any of the New England/ New York stations (ME, MA, RI, CT, NY: The Battery is New York City).

At the time you are visiting your station, __________________, is it high tide, low tide, or in between? _________ Are there two high and low tides each day? ____ Are the tides following their predicted course? ______ What is the water temperature here? ________

9a. What was the water temperature in early January? By how many degrees (C or F) has it changed?

Gulf Stream

An image of the Gulf Stream is at thisUS Navy site. The warm water band flows north from Florida, and turns east off of North Carolina. You should be able to see swirls and eddies of warm and cold water.

9b. If you saved a image of the Gulf stream in August, see if there is any change. If not; well hypothesize on any possible changes! I see more warmer water pushing farther north.

Surface water

Ohio's streams and rivers

Ohio River Forecast Center has lots of information. Besure you understand the color coding.

10. Are there any areas of flooding? What is the current observation in Dayton area? (We are now in spring flood season - but there hasn't been much snow or rain lately.)

11. Go to http://ahps.erh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ahps.cgi?ILN&dtno1, which is the web page for the Great Miami River at Dayton. What is the current flood stage? ______ feet.

11a. What was the stage (height of the river) in January? _______ feet. (about the same!)

Part IV. The Atmosphere

A number of different properties make up the current state of the atmosphere and weather; clouds, temperature, wind speed, precipitation, etc.

Overall cloud cover

go to http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/geo/east/. Choose the Visible 0.65 um button(page should automatically refresh). Look for white puffy clouds.

12. Any big cloud systems in Ohio? In the Gulf of Mexico or in the Atlantic?

Temperatures

Using the weather channel site, weather.com, click here.
Enlarge the map, and use the drop down menu to choose map of: East Central US current temps.
13. What is the current temperature in Dayton? _______ highest/lowest temps on this map are: __________

13a. What was the temperature in Dayton in January? (probably teens or twenties) ______

Highest/lowest temps on this map in January were: __________

Current Weather

Using drop down menu again, choose East Central US current weather. Click on the link "How to read this map" for more info. Weather fronts are shown as blue lines with triangle 'teeth' or red lines with half-moons. Large areas of precipitation are shown in green (or pink for icy mix, or white for snow). Blue H; high pressure area. Red L; Low pressure area.

14. Do you see any high or low pressure areas on this map? If so, what are their approximate locations? Do you see any weather fronts? If so, what are their approximate orientations (i.e. running east to west) and approximate location?

15. In your experience - How quickly do weather conditions change? Hourly/daily/ weekly/ bi-weekly/monthly? If you visit this page again tomorrow, will things have changed, and if so by how much?

Weather for Dayton OH

16. What information is given as part of the local weather report? What do you think controls the value of wind speed and direction, dew point and humidity?

16a. Do you perceive weather forecasts like this differently now that you have taken SCI210?

Wind speeds

17. Note areas of high winds (see color key along top border of this map - Kts stands for knots.) Where are they? (list states or areas) __________________

Note swirling wind patterns and arrows denoting which way the wind is blowing. Do the winds appear to be random, or are they swirling into and/or out of certain areas? Do these areas correlate with the positions of High and Low pressure areas? Do the overall wind directions make sense with what you have learned about high and low pressure systems?

17a. Why does the wind blow anyway? What controls the direction and strength of the wind?

winds aloft at 34000 ft (airliner level)

18. Wind speed varies from ___ to ___. What is general direction, if any? _____________
Why do think wind speed is higher here? - note the color key along top border of the map goes to much higher speeds. (You should know why now!)

Air Quality for Ohio

19. For Dayton: is our rating: good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy, or ozone action day?

Part IV. The Biosphere

USGS HTML Integrated Vegetation Mapping Viewer

This is a sophisticated and complex web-based research instrument, that used to be available, but due to problems with the satellite it is off line now.

The link is http://gisdata.usgs.net/website/ivm/.

SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor)

The purpose of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project is to provide quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties to the Earth science community. Subtle changes in ocean color signify various types and quantities of marine phytoplankton (microscopic marine plants). Scientists can detect and monitor short-term and seasonal changes in near-real time. Also, after six years of data collecting, analysis may reveal global changes.

Go to http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20010327colors_of_life.html and scroll down to "The Colors of Life, the Colors of the World".

"By monitoring the color of reflected light via satellite, scientists can determine how successfully plant life is photosynthesizing. A measurement of photosynthesis is essentially a measurement of successful growth, and growth means successful use of ambient carbon." Read the rest of this material.

I would like you to view an animation of world-wide seasonal changes in greenness/chlorophyll. To do so, click on the link "click here for animation" next to the colorful picture of the world. (You must have an updated browser and have Java enabled). You should end up here.

What is shown:

in oceans: levels of plankton chlorophyll concentration (red/orange is very high; green is moderate; dark blue/purple is very low).
On land: close to true colors Ð dark green is lots of chlorophyll/land plants, brown to tan is little chlorophyll/land plants.

20. How can you identify summer time in the northern hemisphere? How can you identify winter in the northern hemisphere?

20a. Scroll down this web page to "WATERPLANET Ð LIVING PLANET." The project has noticed an increase in plant productivity on land in the past three years. Is this because of increased CO2 in the atmosphere?

20b. In considering the Earth's CO2 and O2 budget, why should people pay attention to ocean productivity?

20c. Keep scrolling down. Why are the tiny phytoplankton in the ocean so important?

Keep scrolling to the bottom and click on "click here for page two" or go directly to this link: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20010327page2.html

THE CARBON RECORD, PAST AND PRESENT

20d. Click on the top left image. If you were living in the time of Shakespeare and Elizabeth I (around 1600 AD) how much CO2 was in the air, in ppm? (There is no label on the graph, but it is in ppm - parts per million).

20e. Where do these historical data come from?

20f. Click on the top right image. Where do these data come from?

20g. Click on bottom right image. What causes that yearly oscillation?

20h. Click on the link for the animation. Note the color change on the land surface, color change in the ocean, and CO2 curve. When (season-wise) do the high points occur? When do the low points occur?

20i. How important is the biosphere in the regulation of our atmosphere, indeed our overall climate?

Part V. The Human Sphere

Human Population The US Census Bureau maintains a World population counter. Of course, this is based on a number of statistical models as population is not monitored in real time. In some countries, there are only rough estimates of popualtion. When I was puttingthis assignment together on Jan. 8, 2004, at 1:08 PM, world population was 6,340,940,228.

21. When you are visiting this page, which is ________________, world population is estimated to be ________________. Refresh the page to see the new projection.

On August 25, 2003 the world human population was approximately 6,313,643,554.
On Jan. 8, 2004, the world human population was approximately 6,340,940,228.

Updated: Aapril 16, 2004.

You are visitor number since Jan. 24, 2003.

SCI 210 section 3 syllabus SCI 210 section 7 syllabus

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