Week 4: Using Satellite Data to Study the Ocean

As the world's population grows, so does concern over fisheries' sustainability, water quality deterioration, and coral reef bleaching. Satellites help us build a global understanding of oceanic processes and problems. The view from space is an essential part of protecting, preserving, and conserving the health of the world's oceans.

This week, you will learn how to use NASA's web-based tool, Giovanni (Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure), to access, visualize, and analyze ocean color remote sensing data. You will create a time-averaged data map and a time series animation of chlorophyll-a data from Chesapeake Bay.

Weekly Goals

• Recognize practical/real-world applications for satellite data
• Learn how to perform basic operations in Giovanni
• Become comfortable using Giovanni to explore ocean data
  
• Share your ideas about how you might incorporate Giovanni visualizations into your classroom teaching
  
• Provide feedback on what you are learning and the process of learning it

This Week's Tasks

1. "Meet" Giovanni, an online tool for ocean color data visualization and analysis.
2. Find out how Dr. James Acker, a contract scientist for NASA, uses Giovanni to study Chesapeake Bay.
3. Use Giovanni to create a lat-lon time-averaged map and a time-series animation.
4. Generate a Giovanni visualization to use in your own classroom.
5. Contribute to an online discussion centered on using Giovanni and ocean data in your teaching.
6. Answer the Week 4 Feedback questions.

A Look at the Week Page by Page

Intro to Giovanni

This page gives a brief introduction to Giovanni, a web-based application developed by the NASA Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center that provides a simple way to visualize, analyze and access vast amounts of satellite-based Earth science data without having to download anything.

If you are pressed for time, read the introduction and save the exploration of the resources for later.

Eyes on Dr. James Acker

Meet Dr. James Acker, a contract scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) who uses remote sensing and Giovanni to study ocean color.

If you are pressed for time, read the background information and save the exploration of the resources for later.

Getting to Know Giovanni

Learn more about Giovanni's interface, features, and how to generate visualizations. Then use Giovanni to generate a visualization to use in your own classroom. Select any geographical area, data set(s), time period, and visualization type. Save your visualization to your computer as a GIF or JPEG image file. This is the image that you'll post to your discussion section.

This weekly activity is required and is due on Thursday, May 24, 2010.

Using Giovanni to Study Chesapeake Bay

Follow instructions for how to use Giovanni to explore SeaWiFS monthly chlorophyll-a concentration data, using Chesapeake Bay as an example.

Share and Discuss Assignment

Create a new discussion thread and post the visualization you generated in Giovanni along with a brief description of it. Then share one or more ideas about how you might incorporate this image into your teaching. Use the reply function to "talk" to others in your section about their ideas.

This weekly activity is required and occurs from Thursday, May 24, through Sunday, May 27, 2010.

Week 4 Feedback

This page gives you the opportunity to provide us feedback about the week's activities.

Feedback is optional and anonymous. However, if you have time to provide feedback, you can help us better meet your needs.