Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 08:50
Forums
Ocean, Atmosphere, Sea Ice, and Snowpack Interactions

Hi Ms.Wilkening, Our names are Elizabeth and Soli. We are seniors from East Palo Alto Academy High School. Our teacher is Ms.Cristina Galvan. Some questions that we have for you are:

What made you want to go on this trip?

Do you think you would ever do something like this again?

How could you go back and inform your community on what you learned?

What has been the most interesting part of your trip so far?

Thank you hope to hear from you soon!!

Tue, 04/07/2009 - 20:52

Betsy Wilkening

Hello Elizabeth and Soli,
I'm glad to hear from you.  Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you.  I really wanted to go on this trip because I had been following the International Polar Year since it started a few years ago with my students.  My students are from a very warm environment and like you in Palo Alto, we do not really understand ice and snow or the importance of the polar regions.  I would definitely go on another trip like this again.  One thing I discovered is that cold can really hurt!  When my hands got too cold it was painful warming them up again.  Around here, cold is only something that is uncomfortable.
I would like to do some presentations around the community about what I have learned, but have not set anything up yet.
It is hard to narrow it down to one thing that was most interesting. Experiencing the sea ice had to be one of them.  It was very surreal riding on a snow machine through this jumble of giant blocks of ice to get to the new sea ice.  The frost flowers and polar bear tracks on the ice were really unique.
Thanks for reading!
Betsy Wilkening