Visualizations for Teaching About the Ocean System
If you have a visualization that would be helpful for teaching undergraduate oceanography, please contribute to our continually expanding collections.
- Bathymetry - Images and animations that show sea floor topography.
- Coastal Wave Mechanics - Animations and movies depicting how waves and water molecules behave along the shore and in deep water settings.
- Coral Reefs and Atolls - Images and photographs that show the living organism of a coral reef and its marine inhabitants.
- Deltas and Sediment Plumes (in Geomorphology) - Images and animations that illustrate both modern and ancient delta systems. Photos and 3D animations depict the development of deltas on both the temporal and spatial scales.
- Earth Science Image Archives (in Teaching Geoscience with Visualizations) - Contemporary and historic photographs, data-derived and satellite image collections from agencies such as USGS, AGI, NASA, etc. Collections include oceanography-related images and also span the range of earth science topics.
- El Nino/La Nina - Animations, models, and images related to how El Nino affects sea surface temperature, sea surface level, thermocline depth, weather and more.
- Hurricanes (in Hazards) - visualizations of the 2005 hurricane season, various record breaking storms, and models of hurricane structure.
- Longshore Drift and Depositional Landforms (in Geomorphology) - Animations and images showing a variety of depositional landforms resulting from longshore drift and the impact of river and coastal engineering projects on sediment transport processes.
- Ocean Chemistry and Productivity Visualizations - Visualizations about phytoplankton plankton blooms, nutrient circulation, carbon cycling, chlorophyll concentrations and other ocean productivity topics.
- Ocean Circulation and Upwellings - images and animations about ocean surface currents, upwellings and circulation models.
- Ocean Surface Currents - images and animations about the dynamics, causes and effects of ocean surface currents.
- Oil Spills (in Hazards) - Visualizations, activities, and references that speak to the effects of oil spills and aid educators in teaching about these catastrophic events.
- Rocky Coastlines and Erosional Landforms (in Geomorphology) - Animations and images related to erosional landforms such as cliffs, arches, sea stacks and other morphological features.
- Sea Surface Temperature - images and animations about sea surface temperature, including global maps, real-time and observed data, and temperature anomalies related to climate change.
- Sedimentation Models (in Sedimentary Geology) - Animations, videos, photos and images representing conceptual models, output from computer simulations, and physical experimental models of clastic and carbonate sedimentation and stratigraphy.
- Sequence Stratigraphy (in Sedimentary Geology) - Images, animations and videos about the processes and products of sequence stratigraphy.
- Tidal Visualizations - Photos, animations, maps and videos that help teach about tides, their distribution in space and time, their role in sedimentary processes, and their use as an energy source.
- Tsunami Visualizations (in Hazards) - Animations and photos of recent and historic
tsunami episodes.
- Turbidite Visualizations (in Sedimentary Geology) - Photos, videos and images of sediment transport models and events.
Search the Oceanography Visualization Collection

Subject: Oceanography
- 2 matches General/Other
- Physical 1 match
- Marine Hazards 5 matches
Resource Type: Audio/Visual
Results 1 - 5 of 5 matches
Air-sea Interactions: Activities in Oceanography
Steve LaDochy, California State University, Los Angeles
This online set of activities help students learn properties of ocean waves, wind-wave relationships and properties of tsunamis.
Resource Type: Audio/Visual: Audio/Visual:Images/Illustrations, Activities:Lab Activity, Assessments, Audio/Visual:Animations/Video, Activities:Classroom Activity
The 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami
Steve Kluge
In this multi-part activity, students study seismograms from different seismic stations recording the Sumatra earthquake of December 26th, 2004 and then determine the epicenter of the quake and track the tsunami it ...
Resource Type: Audio/Visual: Audio/Visual:Maps, Activities:Lab Activity
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami
This page presents visualizations and other resources related to the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. This event constituted one of the largest disasters in history, causing the deaths of over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (98 ft) high.
Resource Type: Audio/Visual: Audio/Visual:Collections
Hurricane Visualizations
Compiled by Jen Millner at Montana State University and John McDaris at SERC. Find satellite images and visualizations that illustrate how these violent weather systems form and function, as well as their effects ...
Resource Type: Audio/Visual: Audio/Visual:Animations/Video
2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 8.9-9 megathrust earthquake off the north eastern coast of Japan triggered a large tsunami, with wave heights reaching up to 10m. These two events caused widespread devastation and destruction in Japan, including washing away entire cities as well as damaging the country's nuclear power plants, thus causing potential meltdowns.
Resource Type: Audio/Visual: Audio/Visual:Collections





