DOWNLOADING THE OCEAN

ASEE Prism, Mar 2004 by Gardner, Robert

THE SEAMAVEN project is bringing the ocean into Georgia classrooms. Begun in January 2003, the project is working to establish a Web site from which middle and high school students can download near real-time oceanographic data from instruments on Navy flight-training platforms off the coast of Georgia. The goal is to develop classroom projects utilizing this data, giving students a taste of scientists' work and making them aware of technical career paths. Jim Demmers, the Georgia Tech researcher heading the project, says, however, that SeaMaven is not just a recruiting tool. "This is an attempt to get students into science as not only a career option," he says, "but as something they can carry forward into the rest of their lives."

The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO), a research unit of the University of Georgia System, installed and maintains the measuring equipment on the platforms and is providing SeaMaven access to the data. The six platforms rise from the water in a grid covering over 2,300 square miles of Georgia's coastal waters.

The data is gathered by three sensors. An atmospheric sensor mounted high on the platform measures barometric pressure, temperature, and wind speed. In the waters below are a near-surface (about ten feet below sea level) and near-bottom (70 to 75 feet below) ocean sensor. These two measure the temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen content, and amount of floating organic matter.

Students will access this data via the SeaMaven Web site and use it in projects Demmers and others are now preparing. Demmers says putting this SkIO data into a format students can use has been a challenge. "We're looking to put it in flash and use a lot of animation on the Web site," he says.

One of the projects planned involves measuring the amount of dissolved oxygen and organic matter-indicators of a healthy environment for marine life-in the water. Using longitudinal data, the students will study how the amounts of both vary with the seasons. Another will study how onshore rainfall and runoff affect the salinity of coastal waters. Salinity is a concern for the shrimp nurseries that clot the Georgia estuaries. Shrimp need to grow up in a mix of salt and freshwater. "The big thing," Demmers says in summary, "is to show kids how things that happen on land affect what happens in the ocean."

After the SeaMaven Web site launches this spring, Demmers says the teachers will be a factor in its success. He recently brought a group of them to SkIO to introduce them to SeaMaven and solicit their ideas for classroom projects. He says he will continue to work closely with them, but the teachers, ultimately, will be in charge. "They're the experts," Demmers says. "It's their classroom. We are just trying to give them a tool."