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

Students explore positive feedback effects of changing albedo from melting Arctic sea ice.

Students will make a claim about whether changing albedo contributes to changes in Arctic habitats.

Students develop and test a hypothesis about how albedo affects temperature.

Students connect day/night and seasonal cycles with albedo in the Arctic region. 

Students will use the NASA Earth Observations analysis tool to explore changing albedo in the Arctic compared with other areas of Earth.

Phytoplankton distribution background information.

Earth is a system of systems.

Students analyze two North Pole orthographic data visualizations produced from soil moisture data. After describing trends in the seasonal thaw of land surfaces, students demonstrate their understanding of Earth’s energy budget by explaining relationships and make predictions about the dataset.

This investigation is part of the NASA: Mission Geography Module "What are the causes and consequences of climate change?" that guides students through explorations in climatic variability and evidence for global climate change.