Teacher Nell Kemp and researcher Rebecca Hewitt discuss field work and research on the Deep Roots project. The research team is studying the matrix of soils, roots and fungal hyphae that may play a critical role in the trajectory of future climate change. This project is based out of Toolik Field Station and Healy, Alaska.
An article describing Kevin Anchukaitis' work at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. Tree rings embody a record of climate change going back thousands of years, and they grow on every continent except Antarctica. “They let us reconstruct climate around the world, in both space and time."
Article describing PolarTREC teacher Susy Ellison's recent expeditions to Alaska to take part in a tree ring study in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and an archaeological expedition in Kivalina.
Teacher Betsy Wilkening and researchers publish an article in the Journal of Geophysical Research stemming from their work on the PolarTREC OASIS project.
This PolarConnect event was conducted with PolarTREC teacher Claude Larson, and members of the research team that she worked with on the Prehistoric Human Response to Climate Change 2010 project in Kamchatka, Russia.
Students will use marshmallows to simulate toxins in the environment. Concentrations of these toxins will be modeled and calculated as they bioaccumulate up the food chain. Methylmercury and POPs are substances that bioaccumulate in the Arctic food chain. OASIS scientists studied these in Barrow, Alaska. (See Ocean Atmosphere Sea Ice and Snow (OASIS) Project at www.polartrec.com)
Students will discover how a simple action such as turning on a television will lead to toxins in our food supply. Many of these toxins concentrate in the Arctic because of long-range transport of pollutants in the atmosphere. Scientists in the OASIS project (http://www.polartrec.com/ocean-atmosphere-sea-ice-and-snowpack-interactions) study these pollutants in the Arctic. Students will learn about actions that they can take to
Excerpt:
Almost every student at Wilson has probably heard of Mrs. Wilkening, a seventh grade teacher with a mad passion for science. She keeps her science classes alive with her eccentric and fun lessons. Mrs. Wilkening also has had two kids go through Wilson herself. Patrick, her son, was actually part of this school's first kindergarten class, and Jeannie, her