Use of High Altitude Color and Infrared Photographs in Teaching a Unit on Waves

NASA Earth Observations Aircraft Program (EOAP) high-altitude photographic overflights of the Hawaiian Islands in the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft produced color transparencies on Aerochrome Infrared film and aerial color film of excellent image quality showing multiple overlapping open ocean and near shore wave patterns. These photos were used as a teaching resource in a unit on ocean waves in the Hawaii Marine Studies Science Curriculum Project. In the unit, students are introduced to fundamentals of wave phenomena through observations and measurements and are asked to analyze the complex wave patterns shown in the NASA aerial photos. Many wave phenomena are vividly shown with great clarity on these photographs. Details for obtaining duplicates of these photographs are presented.