Dynamic Planet

Participants: 2

Competition and Testing Materials:

• Information binder (2’’ max)

• Two stand-alone calculators of any type

• Writing implements + eraser(s).

As stated above, the majority of work for this event will be compiling resources, rather than memorization. The easiest way to accidentally waste time here is including information that you already know, or would be able to guess. So, when you’re adding new info to your binder, make sure you actually need it! You probably won’t run out of space, but no matter how organized you are, it gets harder to find things fast as you add more pages. That being said, put in whatever you think would help you while competing! I’ll include an appallingly long list of possible resources below. I’d personally recommend alphabetizing sections, and making an index so nothing gets lost. The faster you can access specific information while competing, the better!

You'll be learning about some of the following subtopics: buoyancy, high/low tides, coastal currents, surface currents, waves/wave formation, reef formation, water metrics and more!

Resources:

(This is mostly just an updated and slightly pared down version of this list, which has a few dead links and such. I’ve starred some of the ones I personally think are particularly valuable if you’re short on time!)

General Oceanography:

• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute resources for teachers. (Click the WHOI Ocean Topics tab on the home page for a catalog of oceanography topics that will surely be covered in the event.)

• Penn State’s online Oceanography course

• ***Matthias Tomczak’s lecture notes on oceanography

• This marine science class website

Seawater:

• ***Marine Science focused website

• ***A page focused on seawater properties

• A brief but informational slideshow =

Energy Inputs/Outputs:

• ***Indiana University website about Earth’s Energy Budget

Water Metrics:

• ***NASA page about salinity, compact and readable

• ***More cool NASA stuff about seawater sublevels

Topographic features of oceans:

• ***Physiography of ocean basins webpage

• ***Information about seafloor spreading

Waves:

• ***Slide Presentation about wave formation

Buoyancy:

• ***A bunch of concise and mathy explanations

See ***this link for more information. I put the links I thought were most important above—there are tons more available, although a few links are either dead or not super useful. Regardless, you’re sure to find more good information there, or with your own research!