These exercises are away to explore a topic in depth or to virtually explore a geologically interesting part of the world. They are self-paced - you do the exploring (with my guidance) on the WWW. You are required to take six explorations over the course of the semester. Two specific ones (Snapshot of the Earth, and Snapshot of the Earth redux) are required. Then you choose 4 more from this web page.

Exploration I: Snapshot of the earth

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.

You will go through this exercise again at the end of the semester and see what has changed a little, a lot, or not at all. How dynamic is the Earth? How are the systems interacting?

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.

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.

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? _____

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 2003 (so far) from earthquake injuries?

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.

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? ________

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.

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?

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.

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: __________

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? If you don't know, would you like to find out?

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?

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. (Your best guess)

Air Quality for Ohio

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

(Choose California to see a range of good to unhealthy readings!)

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." (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?

At the end of the semester, we will visit this link again and explore the connection to CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

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. As I am putting this this assignment together on Jan. 8, 2004, at 1:08 PM, world population is 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 proejection.

Updated: Jan. 9, 2004.

You are visitor number since Jan. 24, 2003.

SCI 210 section 3 syllabus SCI 210 section 7 syllabus

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