Large toxic algae blooms can be seen off the coast of Florida.

AMSR-E is a passive microwave radiometer, all the channels are in microwave spectrum, not in visible spectrum. The image is to express the water planet by simple color composite. Three day average data. Using only the descending paths, nightside orbits.

AMSR-E is a passive microwave radiometer, all the channels are in microwave spectrum, not in visible spectrum. The image is to express the water planet by simple color composite. Three day average data. Using only the descending paths, nightside orbits.

This is a cloudless image of Sea Surface Temperature taken by Aquas instrument AMSR-E. Three day average data.

This is a cloudless image of Sea Surface Temperature taken by Aquas instrument AMSR-E. Three day average data.

The Aral Sea is actually not a sea at all, but an immense fresh water lake. In the last thirty years, more than sixty percent of the lake has disappeared because much of the river flow feeding the lake was diverted to irrigate cotton fields and rice paddies. Concentrations of salts and minerals began to rise in the shrinking body of water, leading to staggering alterations in the lakes ecology and precipitous drops in the Arals fish population. Powerful winds that blow across this part of Asia routinely pick up and deposit the now exposed lake bed soil. This has contributed to a significant reduction in breathable air quality, and crop yields have been appreciably affected due to heavily salt laden particles falling on arable land. This series of Landsat images taken in 1973, 1987 and 2000 show the profound reduction in overall area at the north end of the Aral, and a commensurate increase in land area as the floor of the sea now lies exposed.

Scientists are baffled by a mysterious dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico off southern Florida, an area normally rife with fish but described by fishermen now as fouled by murky waters and barren of marine life.

Scientists are baffled by a mysterious dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico off southern Florida, an area normally rife with fish but described by fishermen now as fouled by murky waters and barren of marine life.

The global ocean chlorophyll archive produced by the CZCS was revised using compatible algorithms with SeaWiFS. Both archives were then blended with in situ data to reduce residual errors. This methodology permitted a quantitative comparison of decadal changes in global ocean chlorophyll from the CZCS (1979 - 1986) and SeaWiFS (1997 - 2000) records. Global spatial distributions and seasonal variability of ocean chlorophyll were similar, but global means decreased over the two observational segments. Major changes were observed regionally: chlorophyll concentrations decreased in the northern high latitudes while chlorophyll in the low latitudes increased. Mid-ocean gyres exhibited limited changes. The overall spatial and seasonal similarity of the two data records suggests that the changes are due to natural variability. These results provide evidence of how the Earths climate may be changing and how ocean biota respond.

Dive and Discover brings you right aboard the expedition to the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Pacific Ocean, where scientists are exploring hydrothermal vent fields and microbes inhabiting hydrothermal vents. The site gives you access to the latest oceanographic and deep submergence research from a variety of scientists including geologists, geophysicists, chemists, and biologists who are exploring the seafloor and making amazing deep-sea discoveries. The mission and objectives, daily updates, photos, videos, and e-mail correspondence with scientists aboard research vessels allow you to follow the progress of the scientific mission and find out about life on the floating laboratories at sea. Deeper discovery links allow the user to further explore the related topics of mid-ocean ridges, hydrothermal vents, and vent biology. This web page also provides links to other Dive and Discover expeditions, other deeper discovery topics, a teacher's page, and further Dive and Discover information.

Explore vent basics, vents around the world, vent chemistry, boiling points, videos, and test what you've learned with a quiz!

DISAPPEARING WATER: THE ARAL SEA OVER TIME, FROM 1973 TO 2001 A time series is a powerful illustrative tool. Where in the case of Las Vegas we see the direct effects of people on the land, in the case of the Aral Sea, separating the countries of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, we see indirect, but no less dramatic effects on a different part of the world. The Aral Sea is actually not a sea at all. It is an immense lake, a body of fresh water, although that particular description of its contents might now be more a figure of speech than practical fact. In the last thirty years, more than sixty percent of the lake has disappeared. As you'll see in the visualization, the change over time is dramatic. In the 1970s, farmers and state offices opened significant diversions from the rivers supplying water to the lake, sending millions of gallons to irrigate cotton fields and rice paddies. So voluminous were these irrigation sluices that concentrations of salts and minerals began to rise in the shrinking body of water. That change in chemistry has led to staggering alterations in the lakes ecology, causing precipitous drops in the Arals fish population. A secondary effect of this reduction in the Aral Seas overall size is the rapid exposure of the lake bed. Powerful winds that blow across this part of Asia routinely pick up and deposit tens of thousands of tons of now exposed soil every year. This has not only contributed to significant reduction in breathable air quality for nearby residents, but also appreciably affected crop yields due to those heavily salt laden particles falling on arable land. In the following sequence of images, we see a series of Landsat scenes taken several years apart. As the years pass, we see the profound reduction in overall area covered by the Aral, and a commensurate increase in land area as the floor of the sea now lies exposed.

In this activity, users learn about the variables that influence the abundance of phytoplankton, the microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Users apply this knowledge to make predictions about the timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Gulf of Maine. They obtain and graph data from buoy monitoring stations and interpret them to make their predictions. They check their predictions by examining chlorophyll concentration data at each buoy. Users also compare their predictions with reality by obtaining and examining MODIS satellite images to view the full extent of the bloom over time.

This site from SERC's Starting Point presents sample Gallery Walk questions about the ocean. Questions examine the manner in which ocean energy and water exchange impact the atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere and discuss salinity, temperature, density, primary production, turbidity, and current patterns for the various environments. The questions are organized according to the cognitive level at which students are engaged, using Bloom's Taxonomy.

This website is the homepage of NOAA's global drifter program, which tracks the motion of buoys across the world's oceans. The buoys measure temperature and other properties, and have a transmitter with which to send data to passing satellites. Ocean currents and chemistry can be measured from the buoy's data.

This interactive kiosk was designed for the Magic Planet, and provides datasets and descriptions for a variety of topics such as sea surface temperatures, ice concentrations, ozone, human impacts on the ocean, and Atlantic hurricanes.

The Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) is a joint institute of NOAA and the University of Washington. This homepage makes a variety of data and resources available, including real-time and historical climate data, atlases and animations. Users can follow links to science information, JISAO programs and people, seminars and additional links.

Lake Michigan's inorganic precipitation of calcium carbonate triggered by warming surface waters.

Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global sea surface salinity. Launching in 2009, this mission will provide the first global map of sea surface salinity with unprecedented accuracy, resolution and coverage. The importance of salinity measurements in understanding coastal ocean processes is critical. Because of its dynamic range in the coastal oceans, salinity is a critical factor in understanding and predicting biological and physical processes and their interactions with the food Web, climate, and global water cycle. Aquarius's pioneering efforts to deliver the "missing pieces of the climate puzzle" will undoubtedly intrigue informal audiences via the activities and information contained in this Website. Moreover, climate and its influence on humankind is an integral part of K-16 formal education and common to national learning standards. The goal of the Education and Outreach component of Aquarius is to teach fundamental concepts about salinity variations and the role these changes play in controlling global ocean circulation and Earth's climate. Education products will appear as modules addressing the mission's goals and purpose, augment existing El Nino/La Nina materials with salinity based content, provide on-line interactive tools demonstrating environmental change through data sets and in situ time-series analysis, and engage students in activities designed to demonstrate salt-water interactions.