Group 1: Sea Surface by LIndsay Knippenberg

Temperature Graph

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:35:10 UTC

SST Graph

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:36:52 UTC

July

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:47:54 UTC

September

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:48:15 UTC

January

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:48:24 UTC

Question 1

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:50:42 UTC

The temperature of the water at the
surface of the ocean. Measured using
satellites.

Question 2

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:54:37 UTC

Knowing sea surface temperature helps us predict what kind of weather is going to occur.

Question 3

heather_c — 2015-05-22 20:59:30 UTC

My turtle was Lea, and she spent most of her time in warmer waters. I think she does this because she's cold blooded and can't survive in cold temperatures.

Question 4

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:04:41 UTC

Lea spent most of her time in the same temperature. She can't survive in cold water and this area is warm all year round.

Question 5

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:06:35 UTC

The sea surface temperature didn't change more than 5 degrees throughout the year. It stayed the same because it's near the equator and the water doesn't get cold in that area.

Question 6

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:08:10 UTC

Green Sea Turtles eat sea grasses and algae. These species also prefer warmer waters and live in warmer waters like Lea.

Question 7

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:11:03 UTC

The phytoplankton levels around Lea are at 0.3 mg/m³. This level is a lot lower than other places in the ocean because it's warm there and phytoplankton needs nutrients. Cold water is more nutrient rich so they live there more.

Question 12

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:28:36 UTC

Warming of oceans is a good thing for Lea because she needs warm water to survive. On the other hand, if the water gets too hot she has no way of cooling herself down so she could actually get too hot.

Question 11

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:31:40 UTC

Currents move warm and cold water around the ocean so colder waters could be brought to this area and change the average temperature, which is very warm. Many of the species who live there rely on the warm temperatures so this could disrupt what lives there.

Question 9

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:51:23 UTC

The areas Lea was in were all about -600m below sea level. This has a large effect on the water temperature because deeper temperature is a lot warmer than water near the surface. Lea stayed in shallow waters because they were warmer and she's cold-blooded.

Question 8

heather_c — 2015-05-22 21:52:17 UTC

Eddies can cause a change in normal currents so this could cause the temperature of the water to change too. Colder currents could be brought towards the warmer area and made the temperature drop. This would negatively effect the species in the area who need warm water to survive.

Question 10

heather_c — 2015-05-22 23:37:16 UTC

The phytoplankton in this area is lower than a lot of other areas in the ocean. This is the because phytoplankton need lots of nutrient and cold water is more nutrient filled. The water around this area is warm so phytoplankton don't like it as much.

Journal Entry

heather_c — 2015-05-22 23:41:42 UTC

Lea lives near the equator so the water was warm all year round, this means there is no ice near her. Most of the currents area traveling from the coast of Africa and reaching her before it hits the tip of Florida. She seems to be traveling against the currents because over time her dots moved down the islands as the currents travel north towards the bottom of Florida. Most of her time has been spend circling the island of Guadeloupe which makes me think it has the most food for her to eat. Also, maybe she lays her eggs on one of the beaches around the island. I learned that turtles live mostly in warm water because of their cold-blooded nature. My turtle, Lea, didn't seem to most much. This is because she was in an area that is warm all year round. I'm sure that if the temperature dropped during the winter months she would travel to a warmer area. There wasn't any evidence of eddies around Lea's location so she wasn't using any currents to travel between the different islands she traveled to. The temperature of the surface has a lot of impact on animals behaviors. A lot of animals in the ocean require use the temperature around them to survive so if the temperature isn't right they won't be able to live there. I learned a lot of the surface of the ocean from this project, and it was cool being able to actually see what an animal does and how it travels.