Our Place in the World
Draft of August 31, 2009
Start Google Earth
1) Latitude, Longitude, Elevation, and Magnetic Declination
 Fly to Stony Brook, New York
 Find the Stony Brook campus
 What is the latitude and longitude of the Earth and Space Sciences Building?
 Placemark the Earth and Space Sciences Building
 What is the elevation, in feet, of the ground surface at the Earth and Space
Sciences Building?
 How long is a degree of latitude at the Earth and Space Sciences Building?
 How long is a degree of longitude at the Earth and Space Sciences Building?
 Go to Google Earth Community Forums: Magnetic Declination and open the
attachment at the bottom in Google Earth.
 What is the approximate magnetic declination on the Stony Brook University
campus?
 How far is the Earth and Space Sciences Building from the nearest body of
salt water?
 How far is the Earth and Space Sciences Building from the Atlantic Ocean?
2) Activate the Google Earth Terrain layer.
 Make sure the Google Earth status bar is visible.
 Go to Google Earth Community Forums: Long Island’s Aquifer System and
open the attachment at the bottom in Google Earth.
 What is the approximate elevation of the water table where the Earth and
Space Science Building is located?
 What is the elevation of Roth Pond?
 How far above the water table is Roth Pond?
 Do a cross section of elevation from Long Island Sound to the Atlantic Ocean
through Stony Brook University by recording elevations and creating a graph
in Excel.
3) Look at imagery for
 today,
 July 5, 2007
 1994
 1930 overlay
 What changes have occurred in the area of the Stony Brook campus?
4) Open the tectonic plates KMZ file.
 What tectonic plate are we on?
 How far are we from the closest plate boundary?
 What type of plate boundary is it, and what is happening there?
6) A look at some of our field sites
 What is the elevation of each one?
8) Open the USGS topographic map overlay
 Find tunnel valleys
9) Connecticut geology overlay