Ocean Zones Mini-poster and Ocean Circulation Map
Evidence of Work:
Ocean Zones Mini-Poster
For this project, we got to create a mini-poster on a normal sized sheet of paper. The goal for the poster was able to create a poster that depicts the continental profile and all ocean zones. The Ocean Zones required were: photic zone, Twilight zone, Abyssal zone (aphotic) , Hadal Zone, Bathypelagic Zone, Mesopelagic Zone Epipelagic zone, pelagic zone, benthic Zone, neritic zone, intertidal zone. The poster also needed to be neat and easy to read, due to the fact that it was hand written. We also got to incorporate creativity in this project by drawing the animals we would see in each zone. The poster was very fun to make and allowed us to be creative, while still learning more about the ocean. Down below is three up close photos of more specific elements of the project.
Abyssal Zone
The abyssal zone is about 3000 to 6000 meters deep. It is the biggest ocean zone, taking up about 83% of the whole ocean, yet remains in forever darkness. Some animals found there are: giant squids, dumbo octopus, and the deep sea angle-fish.
Photonic Zone
The photonic zone is the highest layer, making up the surface layer of the ocean. This is the layer most visible to humans. It goes from 0 to about 80 meters deep. Some animals found there are: many types of sharks, jellyfish, and turtles.
Continental Profile
This drawing represents the ocean from a 2D perspective. It shows from the top 0 meters, to the bottom more than 11000 meters, at the Mariana Trench. the different colors help represent the light fading and the arrows show which zones are located were.
Ocean Circulation Make-A-Map Project
For this project, we got to create another poster about the ocean circulations. We needed to include hermoaline circulation, major gyres, up-welling areas and a map key/legend for all of this. Like the other poster, it was important to make it have clear and neat labels. Also, creativity was important to add color, and a little bit of personality to it. As much as I love colors and sparkle, I really liked the idea of keeping this poster more sharp looking in the back round and have the key features stand out. I ended up loving the result, which you can see to the left. Below, is more up close features to see the key points of this poster.
Thermocline Circulation
A part of the large-scale ocean circulation. It is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes.
Major Gyres
Marked in the red. Any large system of circulating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. They are mainly caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary voracity, and friction determine the circulatory patterns.
Up welling Areas
Involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface. Which replaces the warmer, nutrient-depleted surface water
Content:
Photic Zone: sunlit, down to 200m (500 ft). Below surface of the ocean.
Twilight Zone: 200-2000 meters deep, below the surface.
A Photonic Zone: no sunlight, below 2000 m below the surface of the bottom of the ocean.
Benthic Zone: Is at the ocean's floor. It starts at the shoreline and continues down until it reaches the floor, following the continental profile encompassing encompassing the sediment. and surface and substance layers.
Pelagic Zone: consists of the water column of the open ocean. Can be further divided into regions by depth.
Nerthic Zone: lies over the continental shelf; plenty of sunlight and nutrients.
Pressure: At surface 1ATM or 14.7 PSI (Ibs, in^2). Every 10 meters in the water, one ATM is added. At 10 meters, that would be 11 ATM.
Coriolis Effect: deflects large- scale motions like wind and current to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. The earth rotating under is causes objects moving straight to actually be curved.
Wind: Driven by the unequal distribution of heat energy from the sun. Air is warmer at the equator, than the poles. Warm air is less dense, rises. Adjacent air then gets sucked in, replacing previous air. That process creates wind.
Thermohaline Circulation: Density driven circulation that mixes the entire ocean on a timescale of 1,000-4,000 years. Regulates the earth's climate.
Benthic Zone
Coriolis Effect
Thermohaline Circulation
Reflection:
Looking back at this project I believe I did a great job creating both of these posters. For this project creativity was a very important aspect to nail. Looking at the ocean zones, I tried to come up with my own original idea by drawing the animals on the side of the Continental profile. This allowed me to allow a lot more detail to each animal and explain each zone further. This allowed it to look super good and have a little bit of my own personal touch to it. Besides focusing on creativity, I also did a good job with time management. In previous projects they were rushed, but instead I managed my time so I could put more effort in this, through shorter periods of time each day. Overall, both posters came out super neat and well done, with my own little artistic touch to them.
Something I could have done better was maybe make the poster bigger. Both of these posters had so much detail that could be incorporated into them. I believe my drawings were very good but the bigger a visual is, most of the time, the easier it is. Next time, I will try to work on a bigger surface, so I can include more detail and make an even better poster! Something else I could have done better was maybe gone into further description on the poster. Describing the key elements in mini-paragraphs. I know what the main concepts are, so does my teacher, but the rest of the world does not. When creating an informative poster, it is a good strategy to act like the audience knows nothing, and in this case the audience was assumed to know something. It was still a good description, that got to the point, but for further detail, the more words the better. therefore in the future I will make a bigger visual to allow more detail whether in the imagery of the poster, or the actual definitions for the key points them self.