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As a member of the Coast Guard Search and Rescue Unit, you have just received a distress call from a ship stranded at sea. You will now need to apply your knowledge of vectors, surface currents and the interaction of forces on ocean water to predict the expected location of the ship. You will do this by calculating the time it will take for the ship to reach a specified end point from a known starting point in the ocean. Record all of your answers on the Adrift Activity Worksheet under "Using Real-Time CODAR Data".
 
1. Examine real-time data:
a. Go the Boaters section of the COOLroom at http://www.thecoolroom.org/boaters.htm and click on the link "Ocean Surface Currents from CODAR."
b. Scroll down the page to the second map, which shows the area of the ocean off the coast of New Jersey from Brant Beach to Brigantine. The small blue square at the top of the map is the Brant Beach CODAR station, and the blue square further south along the coast is the CODAR station at Brigantine.
c. Print the image.
d. Discuss any differences between this map and the ones used in the previous activities.
2. Discuss the overall trends and patterns observed for this day:
a. What is the general direction of the surface currents?
b. What is the fastest current speed on the map?
c. What is the slowest current speed on the map?
d. In what direction would a bottle drift if you dropped it at latitude 39:25 and longitude 74:05? |
