Climate History from Deep Sea Sediments
DATA: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Core Data. TOOL: Virtual Ocean. SUMMARY: Locate potential core, log, and seismic data to map the marine sediment biostratigraphy. Search for a specific planktonic foraminifera that prefers warmer ocean conditions.

Detecting El Niño in Sea Surface Temperature Data
DATA: Sea Surface Temperature (SST). TOOL: My World GIS. SUMMARY: Examine 15 years of SST data from the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Create and analyze average SST maps to identify El Nino and La Nina events.

Discover Clues from a Colder Climate with GeoMapApp
DATA: Global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) TOOLS: GeoMapApp, Spreadsheet SUMMARY: Use GeoMapApp to search for evidence of glacial expansion and retreat. Produce a research report of your findings modeled on peer-reviewed papers in the field of glaciology.

Exploring Seafloor Topography
DATA: Digital Elevation Model Data. TOOL: GeoMapApp. SUMMARY: Explore a timeline about how we have learned about the oceans. Construct a profile across the Atlantic Ocean and create 3-D visualizations of the seafloor.

Life in Extreme Environments
DATA: Global Multi-Resolution Topography Data and NSF Ridge 2000 Data. TOOL: GeoMapApp. SUMMARY: Create topographic profiles of the ocean floor to explore the structure of a spreading center. Learn about the life forms found in these extreme environments and investigate the conditions affecting them.

Looking into Earth with GIS
DATA: Seismic Wave Model Output. TOOLS: My World GIS, Microsoft Excel. SUMMARY: Examine seismic wave data in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Analyze wave velocities to infer the depth of the crust-mantle boundary.

When is Dinner Served? Predicting the Spring Phytoplankton Bloom in the Gulf of Maine
DATA: Ocean Buoy Data, MODIS Images TOOLS: GoMOOS Online Graphing Tool SUMMARY: Learn about conditions that influence the spring phytoplankton bloom. Use an online graphing tool to predict the date of the bloom.

Whither Arctic Sea Ice?
DATA: Sea Ice Images TOOLS: ImageJ, Spreadsheet application SUMMARY: Animate 30 years of sea ice images and measure the ice extent each year to produce a graph. Compare the ice extents to air temperatures.

Writing to Support the Theory of Plate Tectonics
DATA: Topography, EQs, volcanoes, seafloor ages. TOOL: Browser, Learning with Data CD-ROM. SUMMARY: Examine and interpret images to write a paper supporting the Theory of Plate Tectonics.