FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT US AT connect@space.rice.edu Funded by NASA as part of the Earth Science Information Partners   Activity 2: Is The Sea Level? Level: grades 5-8, but can be raised to grades 9-12 Learning Objective: Students will observe that the sea level changes and will hypothesize what causes this change. They will then check their hypothesis on a different data set. Specific Science Content Standards Properties of matter Structure of the earth system Energy in the earth system Environments Geography: mapping, analyzing, predicting spatial data Earth Update: Hydrosphere Introducing the activity: Ask students what sea level is and is it always the same. Many students are surprised to learn that sea level is not the same everywhere on earth and it changes with the seasons. The main cause of this change is the temperature change in the ocean - warmer waters are higher than colder waters. Students will discover this information as they do the activity and then see if the temperature effect holds true on another data set showing temperature and sea height changes caused by the El Nino. Activity 2: Is The Sea Level? You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this activity. To download, click on the link below. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

Last Update: December 12, 2001