This activity is one of a series in the collection, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change activities. 

In this activity, students make a claim about the cause of ocean currents and then develop a model to explain the role of temperature and density in deep ocean currents.  This lesson is modified from "Visit to an Ocean Planet" Caltech and NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Are you looking for a data story to use with your students that features ocean circulation and its connection to the Earth system?  Consider using the following resources in your classroom today!

Are you looking for a storyline about using albedo values to measure change in the cryosphere using NASA data?  Consider using the following resources in your classroom today!

Students analyze the stability and change of sea level after watching a visualization of sea level height around the world. 

Students are divided into three different groups and are assigned a category of drivers of change in regional trends of freshwater storage (Climate Change, Human Activity, and Natural Variability).

Test your knowledge of sea level rise and its effect on global populations.

In this activity, students will use sea-level rise data to create models and compare short-term trends to long-term trends. They will then determine whether sea-level rise is occurring based on the data.

Students will observe monthly satellite data of the North Atlantic to identify relationships among key science variables that include sea surface salinity (SS), air temperature at the ocean surface (AT), sea surface temperature (ST), evaporation (EV), precipitation (PT), and evaporation minus pre

Using various visualizations (i.e., images, charts, and graphs), students will explore the energy exchange that occurs when hurricanes extract heat energy from the ocean. This story map is intended to be used with students who have access to a computing device in a 1:1 or 1:2 setting.