Putting Oceans and Great Lakes into Digital Circulation: A New Curriculum

Project Summary

Water doesn't just sit in an ocean, estuary, or lake; it circulates. How it circulates depends on tides, storms, wind, and other forces. This relatively easy concept requires complex computer modeling to fully explain. One of these models is the numerical Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). Researchers and educators will cooperate to take ROMS from realms of advanced research and deliver it to high school and university students. Project leaders will create a way for students to watch how digital renditions of Lake Superior, Lake Erie and the Chesapeake Bay respond to virtual winds, seasonal cycles, pollution spills and other events. Supporting materials and workshops will help educators integrate the software package into curriculums. High school students, undergraduates, and researchers who have not traditionally used numerical models in their investigations will be able to work with this new tool to understand water movement.