Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the oceans. Some are short-lived and small, while others are vast flows that take centuries to complete a circuit of the globe. NOAA All oceans are interconnected through ocean currents. The world's oceans are not separated by walls. You can sail a boat from one ocean into the next and you might not notice the change if you weren't looking at your chart! Most maps don't draw boundaries around oceans and water certainly doesn't know where the borders are! | Topics
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Activity 1 CURRENT RESEARCH TRACKING TRASH
Nike Shoe Investigation (made available to educators by UCLA MSC/OceanGLOBE)
Designed for grades 9-12; easily modified for grades 5-8
"In 1990 about 60,000 Nike sneakers were washed overboard in rough seas. As the years rolled by the sneakers washed up at various locations around the north Pacific. In this investigation the location of the original Nike spill and the locations of their landfalls are plotted on a map of the Pacific. The analytical prompts make use of the dates and distances of travel to calculate the speed and direction of the major surface currents in the north Pacific gyre. Use this investigation as an introductory activity to your consideration of sea surface currents." http://www.msc.ucla.edu/oceanglobe/pdf/nike_invest.pdf
The only materials required for this activity are printouts of the activity sheets (3 pages for each student) and a map of the surface currents in the Pacific Ocean (a small map is provided on the Teachers Guide Page in the Activity page 4 of the PDF.) Nike Shoes investigation.pdf (148 K)
Extensions for this Activity
Background Information on Nike Shoes and Rubber Ducks
This 11 page PDF, made available to educators by COSEE-WEST, provides a printable background about how oceanographers have used trash to track currents. It includes numerous news articles from the Nike shoe incident. http://www..usc.edu/org/cosee-west/PDFs_010107/Nike_shoes_Rubber_duckies.pdf
Rubber Ducks Make Cross-Oceanic Voyage NPR Radio Show
30,000 Nike Shoes Floating in the Pacific Ocean BBC Radio Show
Ducks' Odyssey Nears End BBC News Video
Presentations to Introduce Ocean Currents
NOAA Ocean Currents Video/Flash Presentation (10min) An excellent introduction to ocean
currents! Contains advanced concepts for high school levels but is filled with excellent graphics and
animations that make this presentation applicable to a wider age range. Topics covered
include; definition and causes of currents (surface, longshore and rip), deep circulation,
gyres, Corilois effect, upwelling, the global conveyor belt, and thermohaline circulation.
There is also a 3 minute presentation on the "Global Impacts of Ocean Currents" as well as an
interactive game to learn about the Coriolis effect on this page.
http://ia341333.us.archive.org/0/items/AP_Environmental_Sci_NOAA_Lesson_08/lesson08/NOAA_L08_lesson.swf
NOAA Global Impacts of Ocean Currents Video/Flash Presentation (3 min) An excellent
explanation of how we depend on ocean urrents for survival and how our actions may impact
the currents.
The Inside Story: Ocean Circulation by Robert Perry (54 slide PowerPoint presentation with
notes) This is a very comprehensive slide presentation with notes. Topics covered include;
surface currents, gyres, Coriolis Effect, Research of Ocean Currents using drifting bouys and Nike
shoes, deep circulation, thermohaline circulation, the ocean conveyor belt, and upwelling.
http://www.msc.ucla.edu/oceanglobe/ppt/oceancircNotes/OceanCirculation.htm