My high school has a Science Club whose members visit local elementary schools and run various “stations” that (elementary) students visit for 10-15 minutes before rotating to a different one. This lesson is designed to be one those – a quick hitting, but engaging look into polar science that will stir the kids’ inherent curiosity and get them
NASA's Operation IceBridge images Earth's polar ice in unprecedented detail to better understand processes that connect the Polar Regions with the global climate system. IceBridge uses a specialized fleet of aircraft and the most sophisticated suite of science instruments ever assembled to gather data on sea ice, glaciers, and ice sheets. The data gathered today will allow future scientists
Have you ever wondered how polar scientists do it? How do they really know if the planet is losing vast quantities of ice anyway? You can use pictures from satellites to monitor the surface from year to year, but the vast majority of ice is hidden from view, buried beneath the surface in some of the most inhospitable and
View sequential still images of thermokarst (thawed permafrost) at Horn Lake in northern Alaska during the summer of 2010. The video was made by researchers studying the responses of Arctic landscapes to permafrost degradation.
Sea ice, the thin layer of ice that covers most of the Arctic Ocean and surrounds most of the Antarctic continent, represents a distinctive feature of our planet. The attached flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of information about sea ice including sea ice formation, movement, monitoring, seasonal patterns, and forecasting. A follow-up
The attached Lands and Life flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of terrestrial polar ecosystems, from southern cold maritime islands to dry continental deserts in Antarctica and from tree line across the continental tundra to remote northern islands in the Arctic. An attached activity allows students to build a small scale model of
The attached Ice Sheets flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of information about ice sheets in both the Arctic and Antarctica, followed by an activity which allows students to make their own realistic model of an ice sheet with commonly available materials.
The attached Changing Earth flyer, produced by the International Polar Year (IPY) Programme Office, includes a summary of the history of planet Earth and an activity involving the use of a rope as a timeline to represents the Earth’s history from the present to 65 million years ago.
Students will observe how soils and rocks of different densities behave in wind and in water. They will make predictions and careful observations as they learn about sediment transport and sediment rates in streams and rivers.
Tunnel Man is a super hero who lives in Ice Tunnels, and teaches children and adults about the unique geomorphology of Alaska. Tunnel Man is played by Kenji Yoshikawa, a Research Associate Professor for the Institute of Northern Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Tunnel Man's fun and educational videos were produced as part of UAF's participation in