Lesson 3: Protecting Ocean Hotspots

Lesson 3 Presentation Content

Engage

Explore

Explain

Elaborate

Evaluate

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Imagining the Seafloor

Identifying Seafloor Features

Upwelling and Phytoplankton

Marine Sanctuaries

Seafloor Features and Upwelling

Engage

Imagining the Seafloor

The ocean looks similar everywhere …

because we can’t see through the water

Pacific Ocean Atlantic Ocean

But the seafloor is full of features

Explore

Identifying Seafloor Features

Measuring the Seafloor

Mariana trench

Trenches are very deep areas of the ocean. The Mariana trench is the deepest known trench, with a depth of 10,910 m

Japantrench

Aleutiantrench

Exploring the SeafloorROV – Remotely Operated Vehicle

Alaskan shelf

Continental shelves are shallow (0 – 200 m deep) areas on the edges of continents and islands

Continental slopes are the steep “drop offs” between the continental shelf and the abyssal plain. The water depth ranges from 200 and 2,000 m

Bering Sea slope

Gulf of Alaskaslope

Continental Slope

The abyssal plain is the deep (2,000 m and deeper) and relatively flat seafloor making up most of the world’s oceans

Abyssal plain

Cortes – Tanner Bank

Banks are undersea hills, sitting on the continental shelf. They often reach very close to the surface

Cordell Bank

Cordell Bank

Image USGS

Emperor SeamountChain

Seamounts are volcanic mountains rising over 1,000 m above the seafloor, but always remaining under the waves. Sometimes they reach to 100 m from the surface

Volcanic Underwater Seamount

The stars and labels mark the three study sites, where albatross were tagged with transmitters.

• Grey shading indicates seafloor depth (m)

Shaded Contour Map of the North Pacific Seafloor

Albatross Nesting Colony

Kure Atoll Seabird Sanctuary

Tern Island, National Wildlife Refuge

Black-footed Albatross, kaʻupu, at Sea

Tagging Albatross over Cordell Bank

• Look at the map legend to find out what ocean depths this albatross flew over.

One albatross tagged over Cordell Bank, off California (see close-up)

• Black circles indicate where a bird was located at noon. Arrows show their path.

Explain

Upwelling and Phytoplankton

Microbes - microscopic organisms made up of a single cell (unicellular) or a cell cluster

Diatoms Cyanobacteria

Microbes Are the Most Abundant Organisms in the Ocean and form

the Base of the Marine Food Webs•These diatoms and other phytoplankton are tiny plant-like organisms.

• They produce sugar by photosynthesis using sunlight, carbon dioxide and nutrients.

The Wind Drives Coastal Upwelling

Central California Coast

Coastal Upwelling Fertilizes the Ocean

Central California

• Top-down view from a satellite shows the sea surface temperature off central California.

• Plumes of colder water (blue, 9 C or 42 F) upwell along the coast and mix with the warmer water offshore (red, 16 C or 60 F ).

Productive Water Looks Green

Green in the ocean indicates productive regions with abundant chlorophyll-containing phytoplankton.

Image Credit NASA

Albatross Food Chain

Image credits: Phytoplankton: NOAA MESA Project, Zooplankton: NOAA/D.Forcucci; NOAA Central Library/Charleston Bump Expedition 2003. NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration; Dr. George Sedberry, South Carolina DNR, Principal Investigator, Fish: NOAA, NEFSC, Squid: NOAA/MBARI 2006, Albatross: NOAA Corps/Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo

Many marine birds and mammals come together to feed in productive areas of the ocean.

Elaborate

Marine Sanctuaries

Visit them online at http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov

Designing Marine SanctuariesSeveral marine sanctuaries protect seafloor features and the productive waters surrounding them, where many marine animals aggregate and thrive.

Cordell Bank

Sanctuaries Can Protect Seafloor Features

This map showsexisting sanctuariesoff central Californiaand the location of seamounts and banks(pink shading)

Where would you create an Albatross Sanctuary?

Map Hand-Outs for Printing

The following slides interpret the “Albatross Tracking and Bathymetry Maps” and provide material to stimulate discussion.

Commuting from the colony to a seamount

Use of the California shelf / slope and a visit to seamounts offshore

Foraging along the shelf / slope of the Aleutian Islands

Foraging along the shelf / slope of Japan

Use Agreement

Engage – Imagining the Seafloor 1. The ocean surface looks the same everywhere2. But the seafloor is full of features: Google Maps of

the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean

Explore – Identifying Seafloor Features 

1. Measuring the Seafloor2. Google Map of the Pacific Ocean3. Google Map of Trenches4. ROV Submersible5. Google Map of Continental Shelves6. Google Map of Continental Slopes7. 3D graphic of Continental Slope8. Google Map of Abyssal Plains9. Google Map of Banks10. 3D graphic of Cordell Bank11. Google Map of Seamounts12. 3D graphic of a volcanic seamount13. B&W Contour Map of Pacific Ocean Bathymetry14. Albatross Nesting Colony15. Photos of Kure Atoll and Tern Island where birds

were tagged16. Albatross At-Sea17. Photos of Tagging over Cordell Bank18. Handout Example: Cordell Bank Loop

 

Explain – Upwelling and Phytoplankton

1. Microbes are microscopic organisms2. Phytoplankton microbes photosynthesize3. The wind drives coastal upwelling4. Coastal upwelling fertilizes the ocean5. Productive water looks green6. Albatross Food Chain7. Whales and birds feed in productive areas

Elaborate – Marine Sanctuaries

1. Map of existing U.S. Marine Sanctuaries2. Designing Marine Sanctuaries3. Sanctuaries Can protect Seafloor Features4. Where Would You Create an Albatross Sanctuary?5. Information for Map Discussions 6. Map of Albatross Track: Kure Atoll Loop7. Map of Albatross Track: Cordell Bank Loop8. Map of Albatross Track: Kure Atoll to Alaska9. Map of Albatross Track: Kure Atoll to Japan

Lesson 3 Presentation Content