PolarTREC expedition: Oceanographic Conditions of the Bowhead Whale Habitat. Dr. Steve Okkonen and educator Lisa Seff arrive in Prudhoe Bay where they meet up with the crew of the R/V Ukpik. They head to Barrow Alaska, deploying a mooring with oceanographic instruments along the way.
This one hour live event is hosted by PolarTREC teacher Lisa Seff and her team studying the oceanographic conditions of bowhead whale habitat. The team is stationed in Barrow, Alaska.
This lesson investigates the impact of melting and freezing arctic sea ice on the properties of salinity, temperature and density that contribute to the stratification of ocean waters. This lesson combines several learning approaches including a hands-on lab, a web-quest and collaboration with other students.
Objectives
1. Students will be able to explain and demonstrate how Arctic
Up next, Dressing for Success in the Polar Regions. It’s February 5th, 2012 and this is Lisa Seff, PolarTREC educator, speaking with you from the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks Alaska. If there is only one piece of advice for adventurers headed to the Arctic and Antarctic regions it would be: Layers, layers, layers.
Today PolarTREC teachers were very excited to
Teacher Betsy Wilkening and researchers publish an article in the Journal of Geophysical Research stemming from their work on the PolarTREC OASIS project.
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)