Estimating Exchange Rates of Water in Embayments using Simple Budget Equations.
Keith Sverdrup, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Simple budgets may be used to estimate the exchange of water in embayments that capitalize on the concept of steady state and conservation principals. This is especially true for bays that experience a significant exchange of freshwater. This exchange of freshwater may reduce the average salt concentration in the bay compared to seawater if it involves addition of freshwater from rivers, R, and/or precipitation, P. Alternatively, it may increase the average salt concentration in the bay compared to seawater if there is relatively little river input and high evaporation, E. Since freshwater input changes the salt concentration in the bay, and salt is a conservative material, it is possible to combine two steady state budgets for a bay, one for salt and one for water, to solve for the magnitude of the water flows that enter and exit the bay mouth. Students will make actual calculations for the inflow and outflow of water to Puget Sound, Washington and the Mediterranean Sea and compare them to actual measured values.

Changing With the Tide
Rebecca Teed, Wright State University-Main Campus
This lesson plan is written around a brief role-play in which students learn about and act out plants and animals in a salt marsh habitat as the tides change. -

Temperature/Salinity/Density activity
Petra Dekens, San Francisco State University
This is an in-class activity designed to improve the students' understanding of the relationships between temperature and density, salinity and density, and density differences in driving vertical water ...

Ocean Circulation
Bob Mackay, Clark College
Students view and analyze buoy, satellite, temperature vs. depth data to learn about ocean circulation and how is related to atmospheric circulation. -

Exploring oil spills
Kevin Theissen, University of St. Thomas
This activity combines a hands-on demonstration and a follow-up homework assignment designed for students to investigate oil spill clean-up.

ConcepTest: Ocean Conveyer Belt Speed 1
Adding more salt to the North Atlantic Ocean would cause the global ocean conveyer belt to a. slow down b. speed up c. undergo no change

ConcepTest: Ocean Conveyer Belt Speed 2
Adding more freshwater to the North Atlantic Ocean would cause the global ocean conveyer belt to a. slow down b. speed up c. undergo no change

ConcepTest: Ocean Salinity #2
How would salinity of the oceans vary if the oceans were twice as deep as present and held approximately twice as much water? a. Salinity would be less than present b. Salinity would be greater than present c. ...

ConcepTest: Ocean Salinity #1
How would the salinity of the oceans vary if the continents and oceans each covered 50% of Earth's surface and precipitation and evaporation were similar to present? a. salinity would be lower than today b. ...

ConcepTest: Ocean Salinity During an Ice Age
One million years ago ice sheets covered much of the Earth's land surface during an ice age. How did this affect the salinity of the oceans? a. Oceans were saltier than today. b. Oceans were less salty than ...