2. Properties of Seawater
  3. Instructor's Guide

Exploring Properties of Seawater with OOI Data
Instructor's Guide

Summary

Ocean Wave

This collection consists of 6 sets of activities, each having 1-2 Data Explorations, to be used during the Exploration or Application phases of the Learning Cycle. The collection was developed to assist with students understanding of various concepts covered in Chapter 5. Water & Seawater (12th Ed) including: salinity variations over time and space, processes that affect surface seawater salinity, changes in pH with depth, relationship between pH and oceanic pCO2 for the carbonate buffering system, variations in salinity with depth over time and space, and the depth of the halocline over time and space. Sample worksheets are provided to assist with students accessing their prior knowledge before beginning the Chapter (Invitation), as well discussion prompts to assist student to think about what understanding about ocean chemistry they have gained through the Chapter (Reflection).

Learning Goals

After engaging with the Data Exploration(s) a student will be able to:

Context for Use

These Data Explorations are appropriate to use in an Introduction to Oceanography course that is learning about ocean chemistry, specifically variations in salinity, pH, and pCO2 over time and space. The ability to interpret and use data is integral to oceanography.

Teaching Notes

The Data Explorations require access to an internet-ready computer or tablet.

Note, the Data Explorations use authentic raw data. Many of the datasets have been downsampled for simplicity and to ensure that the interactives load quickly in your browser. However, this means that many of the datasets retain their natural variability and some sampling side-effects. The goal of these activities is for students to analyze authentic data, not smooth averages. have been taken to maintain as much of the data and to keep the variation of the data as true as possible of any data. There has been no resampling, averaging, or selective reduction of the data. Therefore, the amount of data over time varies within the interactive based on the original data and similarly some data is missing.

There are 7 different sets of Data Explorations to choose from within this collection:

Seasonal Salinity Variation

Students look at timeseries of single-point salinity over space and time to explore the data for changes and patterns. The students can:

  • Exploration: Explore salinity data across different time periods to see what you can observe. The data are from the northern Pacific Ocean (Coastal Endurance Array) from April 2015 to March 2017.
  • Application: Compare patterns in salinity data across different time periods to determine if there are relationships over time across different regions of the ocean. The data are from the northern Pacific Ocean (Coastal Endurance Array), northern near polar Atlantic Ocean (Irminger Sea Array), northern Atlantic Ocean (Coastal Pioneer Array), and southern near polar Atlantic Ocean (Argentine Basin Array) from April 2015 to March 2016.

Processes that Change Salinity

Students compare time series of air temperature, salinity, precipitation, evaporation, and rain rate at a coastal site over time to explore the data for changes and patterns. The students can:

  • Exploration: Explore data from the water and atmospheric conditions above the surface ocean across different time periods. The data are from the Northern Pacific Ocean (Coastal Endurance Array) from April 2015 to December 2016.

Changes in pH with Depth

Students compare multiple pH profiles over space and time to explore the data for changes and patterns in how pH varies with depth. The students can:

  • Exploration: Explore data from the surface to 200m across different time periods. The data are from the northern Pacific Ocean (Coastal Endurance Array) from January 2016 through December 2016.
  • Application: Compare patterns in pH with depth data across different time periods to determine if there are relationships over time across different regions of the from the northern Pacific Ocean. The data are from the northern Pacific Ocean (Coastal Endurance Array and Cabled Axial Seamount) from January 2016 through December 2016.

Carbonate Buffering System

Students compare pH vs water pCO2 over space and time to explore the data for relationships and patterns in how pH varies with water pCO2. The students can:

  • Exploration: Explore data from the surface across different time periods. The data are from the northern Pacific Ocean (Coastal Endurance Array) from October 2015 through December 2016.

Changes in Salinity with Depth

Students compare multiple salinity profiles over space and time to explore the data for changes and patterns in how salinity varies with depth. The students can:

  • Exploration: Explore data from the surface into the water column across different time periods. The data are from the northern Atlantic Ocean (Coastal Pioneer Array) from April 2015 through June 2016.
  • Application: Compare patterns in salinity with depth data across different time periods to determine if there are relationships over time across different regions. The data are from the northern temperate Atlantic Ocean (Coastal Pioneer Array) and northern near polar Atlantic Ocean (Irminger Sea Array) from April 2015 through June 2016.

Halocline

Students compare multiple salinity profiles over space to explore the data for changes and patterns in the location of the halocline over time. The students can:

  • Exploration: Explore data across different parts of the summer. The data are from the northern Atlantic Ocean (Coastal Pioneer Array) from June through September 2015.
  • Application: Compare patterns in halocline depth data during the summer to determine if there are relationships over time across different regions. The data are from the northern temperate Atlantic Ocean (Coastal Pioneer Array) and northern near polar Atlantic Ocean (Irminger Sea Array) from June through September 2015.

Subject / Topics

Grade Level

Undergraduate

Quantitative Skills

For more information on using quantitative skills in higher ed, please see: Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences