OCEAN SALINITY DATA

General Guidance: Take your time working through your assigned portion of the exercise. Be thorough, you will be sharing your findings with other students in the class.

Assignment

Background: We've learned about the factors that can influence ocean salinity in different places and at different times. We've also examined general trends. Real data can be much messier than the graphs we use showing general trends, and more difficult to interpret. The purpose of this exercise is to examine and interpret some real-life data collected from our oceans, and to identify trends.

Assignment:

• Complete Review portion of worksheet
• Go to web site (link below) & complete the rest of the worksheet.
• Click on Exploration on the left side of the page.
  • A graph will appear. The graph shows dots for different data points. If you'd like a line graph, you can click on the box that says "Draw Line."
  • As you move your mouse from left to right across the graph, you can see the actual measurements for specific dates. You can also zoom in on a time period by moving your cursor along the bottom of the graph.
• Go back to the Home Page and click on Application on the left side.
  • This graph shows salinity in three different locations. They are collected at the Endurance, Pioneer and Irminger data collecting stations. If you hover your mouse over the lines, the key will appear telling you which line is which.

Data Explorer Links

• Ocean Salinity Data website
• Video: Ocean Observatories Initiative | A Window into the Changing Planet

Worksheet

• download and complete (includes instructions)