Oceanography

The harsh environment of Antarctica offers numerous opportunities for science. This program depicts the challenges biologists, meteorologists, and geologists face as they study the continent's wildlife, climate, and formation. The video features analysis of fossils and ancient magma, shows how past weather patterns are examined in ice layers, and illustrates fish and bird population studies. Describing housing, clothing, waste removal, and other human adaptations, this Science Screen Report provides a detailed portrait of living and working in the vast frozen laboratory at the bottom of the world. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. Produced in association with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology and the Junior Engineering Technical Society. (24 minutes)

At ground level, shallow seas, broad beaches, dunes, and waterlogged hollows seem to comprise a chaotic environment. In fact, there is order and form, produced by the interaction of wind, vegetation, and moving sand. Because sand dunes develop rapidly, the development of a landform can be observed. Measuring wind velocity demonstrates how saltation, sand movement, and erosion happen. The program demonstrates the morphology of dune development and how the complex interaction between it and the vegetation-soil system can be observed and measured. The program also demonstrates how precarious the balance is between the various factors, and how slight changes-including the use of the area by man-can destroy large parts of the system. (20 minutes)

Marine scientists have mapped the ocean floor and discovered that the spine" of the earth runs down the Atlantic Ocean, then up through the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is here that the earth's crust was forged, and it is also where living things first existed. Using satellite images and the latest marine technology, this program contains stunning footage of the ocean floor, the underwater volcanic range that is still active, and the myriad creatures that live there. Original BBC broadcast title: The Deep. (50 minutes)"

More than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water. Use this video to impress upon your students the importance of the seven seas to people, the marine food chain, and the planet as a whole. Topics include the various kinds of currents and the forces that influence them, tides and waves (what they are, what causes them, and how they're classified), features of the seabed, and the formation and shaping of coastlines. A basic explanation of how oceans have been affected by human activity is also provided. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. Correlates to National Science Education Standards, National Educational Technology Standards, and Standards for the English Language Arts. A Cambridge Educational Production. (21 minutes)

The oceans are life's laboratory, the global test tube where trial and error meet cause and effect. By focusing on pivotal animals-ammonites, flatworms, sea squirts, frog fish, and bottlenose dolphins, to name only five-and anatomical adaptations such as the eye, the brain, the backbone, and fins, this program illustrates how life populated the seas. Evidence of humankind's evolutionary past is underscored in this aquatic realm of the beautiful and the bizarre. A BBCW Production. (51 minutes)

This Science Screen Report examines different ways marine species confront their environments using elaborate, specialized survival adaptations. Parallels between hunting techniques and defensive methods are described by contrasting aquatic predators with more vulnerable creatures, which rely on camouflage and sophisticated mobility. The program emphasizes that the oceans are not only the cradle of life-they are also one-third of the planet's surface, and in a very real sense an unexplored frontier. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. Correlates to National Science Education Standards. Produced in association with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology and the Junior Engineering Technical Society. (23 minutes)

Plenty of fish in the sea" may endure as a platitude, but the expression runs afoul of current marine biology. This program examines the dangerous depletion of Pacific Ocean fish stocks, an echo of the overfishing that has ravaged the Atlantic. Contrasting the tuna industries of wealthy countries with the localized fishing many developing nations engage in, the video features case studies of the socioeconomic impact of overfishing on Fiji, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands, and analyzes political systems that enable harmful and often illegal fishing to continue. Activist and pro-regulatory groups that confront these problems are profiled with a tentative optimism. (26 minutes)"