This lesson will provide students with an opportunity to design and carry out an experiment that mimics the conditions causing accelerated ice melt along the face of the Thwaites Glacier off the southwest coast of Antarctica. Created by Sarah Slack during her expedition to Thwaites aboard the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer, this activity aligns with the Science and Engineering
This lesson about the factors affecting water density in the Amundsen Sea was developed by educator Sarah Slack during her PolarTREC expedition aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker. Part of the science mission was to create a detailed map of the seafloor at the face of the Thwaites Glacier, which revealed a series of channels that were conducting a
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is a program funded by the National Science Foundation that partners K-12 teachers in the United States with scientists doing research in polar regions. The goal of the program is for teachers to be authentically integrated into scientific expeditions in order to gain new skills and experiences that they
This is an archive of a PolarConnect event with PolarTREC teacher Sarah Slack and researcher Dr. Frank Nitsche aboard the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer discussing the science and fieldwork around the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. This event took place in the Amundsen Sea on 9 March 2020.
A guest blog post from PolarTREC teacher Sarah Slack discussing her observations from her expedition aboard the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer. This article was published by the National Wildlife Federation Blog.
Ice is a medium that nearly everyone is familiar with. We put it in drinks, skate on it for hockey and scrape it off our windshields in winter. Ice can be turned into sculptures and can even make for some fantastic winter scenery. Ice can also turn into a kaleidoscope of color and patterns under the right circumstances. Science
This lesson is intended to help students make connections to polar science while discovering how and why sea ice drives deep ocean currents. Students will also learn key terminology related to sea ice and using actual salinity content charts, will graph a typical sea ice core’s salinity as it relates to depth.
A little over 1 year ago, I received a phone call that changed my life. I had been selected to become a PolarTREC Teacher and would be heading to Antarctica in the fall of 2017. Words cannot adequately describe the joy and excitement I had in that moment. I knew I was headed for