NASA’s Operation IceBridge, the largest airborne survey of Earth’s polar ice, uses remote sensing techniques like LiDAR (light detection and ranging), snow- and ice-penetrating radar, high resolution digital imaging, and infrared cameras to collect information on our changing ice sheets and sea ice. Several times each year a science team and flight crew head out on month-long campaigns in
How glaciers in the polar regions respond to continued climate warming is of great concern. Changes in overall glacier velocities and calving dynamics have immediate impacts on sea level. Accurate predictions of how and when ice loss will occur are crucial to forecasting future environmental change.
This lesson results from experiences working in and around Kronebreen glacier in
IMOLD is a highly interactive website designed by Drs. Michael N. Weintraub and Daryl L. Moorhead in collaboration with the Center for Creative Instruction at the University of Toledo. Susan Steiner, PolarTREC teacher with Dr. Weintraub on the expedition, Tundra Nutrient Seasonality, collaborated on IMOLD’s design. Other teachers have contributed wonderful classroom activities that can be found posted
This lesson/project/lab has students predict via multiple drawings and time lapse photography predictive Flubber flow before the placement of barriers and other obstacles in front of the Flubber. Contour lines in two directions are drawn on both the paper prediction and the Flubber for comparison purposes.
Following predictive drawing completion glacier flow (Flubber flow), with obstacles in place
Ground penetrating radar is an important tool for studying glacier dynamics. Glacier scientists use GPR images to analyze attributes of glaciers. The following research activity will familiarize students with the basics of the different types of glaciers and their dynamics along with ground penetrating radar and its use in glacier studies.
This lesson includes a variety of research activities and a lab that all help demonstrate the science behind convection currents.
Objectives
Through the following activities and lab students will discover:
* that temperature and salinity affect the density of fluids (liquids and gases)
* how fluids with different densities interact with each other
This lesson was written for the 2012 Arctic Ocean Ecosystem Workshop and was inspired by the research work conducted off the coast of Barrow, Alaska by researchers Steve Okonnen and Patricia Yager with PolarTREC teachers Lollie Garay and Chantelle Rose. Students will engage in a series of exercises to investigate seasonal change in the Arctic ecosystem based on authentic
In part one of this two-part lesson students work in pairs to explore the effects of salinity on ocean stratification using a simple plastic shoebox-sized container in which they create a mini-ocean environment. Students will apply what they learn in the lab setting along with information gained in several online articles to a basic understanding of the Global Conveyor
Coring trees is a way of learning about trees without cutting them down. When a tree is cored, the rings are examined to learn about the history and growth of a tree. In this lesson students will participate in a hands-on activity to help them investigate what information can be gained by studying and comparing tree core samples collected