Preparing to Race
Captain Jonathan Smith and Dr. Louis DeSonier prepare to depart Pensacola
for Isle de Mujeres off the Yucatan Peninsula. Dr. DeSonier, called Dr.
Lou by students at Holley Navarre Intermediate School, came to Mrs. Stevenson's
classroom to find out if there was information on the WWW for locating
the Gulf Stream. In the Gulf of Mexico the loop current of the Gulf Stream
flows north; so it is a current he would want to avoid in his race to the
south. He found that the Naval Oceanographic Center at NASA Stennis had
Gulf Stream data he needed. The data included information about location,
temperature, wave heights, and wind direction. He invited students to use
this data to predict the best route for him to take. He in turn would keep
a log so that when he returned he and the students could compare their
predictions with his actual route.
Working in cooperative groups students will use: The Naval Oceanographic
Products web page. These products include:
The
Gulf Stream South Ocean Surface Analysis Map -This map provides currents,
temperatures and ocean floor data. A Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion chart
appears on the temperature map.
Multi-Channel
Sea SurfaceTemperature - temperatures are assigned color (or contour)
for easy identification.
The Spectral
Wave Prediction System (SWAPS)provides forecasts of wave height, period,
and direction conditions out to 48 hours. The color contour image of Significant
Wave Height is shown for the Gulf
of Mexico and the Carribean.
Other sources of weather information:
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