Animals on the Move and Deep‐Sea Vents: Dataset for Spherical Display Systems

Abstract

This educational package was developed to engage live audiences with datasets displayed on spherical display systems, in particular NOAA’s Science On a Sphere® (SOS; http://sos.noaa.gov/). The playlist was designed to show how different animal species - from birds in the air to tubeworms in the deep sea - migrate or disperse to new locations as part of the dynamics and resilience of animal populations on Earth. Datasets are selected to align with the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience. This package includes Version 1 of an SOS Live Program “Animals on the Move: Stories of Migration Over Land and Dispersal Under Sea” that was developed for the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, MA, in a project led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The datasets in the playlist are relevant to this specific partnership. To help tailor a live program to other local audiences, we provide supplemental documents to aid the selection of datasets aligned with the NGSS. This package also includes Version 2 of NOAA SOS datasets “Deep-Sea Vent Discoveries” and “Deep-Sea Vent Locations”. Locations are provided for all known deep-sea vent fields that were confirmed active by observations at the seafloor at depths greater than 200 m, as of year 2016. The Version 2 Discoveries dataset has the same data as Version 1 for years 1977 - 2005, revised data for 2006 - 2011, and new data for 2012 - 2016. The total number of active confirmed vent fields at water depths > 200 m as of year 2016 was 241, i.e., 28 more than in the previous NOAA SOS datasets (16 discovered in 2012 - 2016, and 12 discovered 2011 or earlier but not in previous NOAA SOS datasets).