| Cynthia M. O'Carroll NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. (Phone: 301/614-5563) |
October 10, 2000 |
Release No. 00-119
GODDARD RELEASES NEW SEAWIFS EDUCATIONAL TOOL
The Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is releasing a NASA Educational Brief, the "Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Poster Teaching Supplement," in conjunction with the second annual Earth Science Week, October 8-14, 2000, sponsored by the American Geological Institute (AGI), Alexandria, Va.
The SeaWiFS Poster Teaching Supplement is intended to accompany the SeaWiFS Project Poster that features several striking images of the Earth acquired by the satellite. The teaching supplement consists of concise descriptions of each image on the poster and will allow teachers and students to better utilize the poster as a teaching resource in Earth science and environmental science classrooms. The supplement also features a URL section, providing links to Web sites with further information on the geoscience phenomena observed in each image.
"The SeaWiFS Poster Teaching Supplement, in combination with the SeaWiFS Project Poster, connects remote sensing imagery with oceanographic and geophysical phenomena in a way that allows teachers to incorporate the images into specific topic areas," says James G. Acker, Raytheon ITSS, a member of the DISC's Ocean Color Data Support Team. "In addition, students are encouraged to use the images as starting points for independent, investigative learning experiences in Earth science and environmental science."
Earth Science Week activities are oriented around Earth science educational topics and are centered within individual communities. A common theme of these activities is the recognition that an understanding of geology and the Earth sciences can help citizens make wise decisions concerning land management use, environmental and ecological issues and provides a basis for preparing for and recovering for natural disasters.
This educational supplement was developed in partnership with the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project and the University of Maryland Baltimore County Department of Education.
The SeaWiFS Project provides quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties to the Earth science community. Subtle changes in ocean color signify various types and quantities of marine Phytoplankton (microscopic marine plants), the knowledge of which has both scientific and practical applications.
A limited number of printed copies of the SeaWiFS Poster Teaching Supplement are available. Printed copies of the supplement and the SeaWiFS Project Poster can be obtained by request to the GES DISC at the email address
ocean@daac.gsfc.nasa.gov. The URLs found in the supplement are also available as active Web links in the Educational Resources section. This page will be updated every six months with new resources.SeaWiFS data are available through a partnership between NASA and Orbimage, Inc., Dulles, Va. NASA procures space-based environmental remote sensing data for research purposes from Orbital Sciences Corporation and Orbital markets the data for commercial and operational use following launch. AGI is a non-profit federation of 35 professional societies in Earth Science fields.
More information about AGI and Earth Science Week may be obtained at:
.The supplement is also available for download as a PDF document in the Educational Resources section of the GES DISC Ocean Color Web site at:
http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/CAMPAIGN_DOCS/OCDST/OB_Education.html
For more information about the SeaWiFS program and Orbimage see the following web sites:
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html