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Education

+ Salinity Basics + Classroom Activities + Salinity Data & Tools + Links

Water and Its Patterns on Earth's Surface

The Heat Capacity branch highlights the role of the ocean in transporting heat energy:

Aquarius Concept Map Heat Capacity Branch

"Hands on" activities related to this concept map:

Properties of Fresh & Sea Water Conduct experiments on the boiling point, freezing point, and heat capacity of fresh water and sea water

Density: Sea Water Mixing & Sinking Use temperature-salinity (T-S) diagrams to understand the importance of seawater density studies

Salinity Data & Tools Salinity patterns are governed by geographic differences in the "water budget." For example, like on continents, some areas of the ocean are rainy whereas others are arid and "desert-like." To learn more about the factors that influence salinity patterns, we invite you investigate – with the help of a "Data Analysis Sheet" – five pairs of data maps centered over the North Atlantic Ocean.

Questions or comments? Contact Annette deCharon, Senior Science Educator and Aquarius EPO Manager

Glossary Words

atmosphere: Gaseous layer surrounding a planet; the whole mass of air surrounding the earth.

climate: The prevailing or normal pattern of weather at a place, or in a region, averaged over a long period of time; in contrast to weather, which is the state of the atmosphere at a particular time.

heat capacity: The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius without change of phase.

heat of vaporization: The thermal energy absorbed by a liquid at its boiling point as it changes to a gas.

latent heat of fusion: The amount of thermal energy associated with vaporizing a liquid or a solid, or condensing a vapor.

polar: Located at or near the earth's North or South pole.

states of matter: A classification of substance according to its structural characteristics. Four states of matter are generally recognized: solid, liquid, gas and plasma.

 

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