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
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.
Students experiment with a “blubber glove” to experience how insulation affects heat transfer, and how the adaptation of blubber helps penguins as well as seals, whales and walruses survive in bitterly cold waters.
The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first person to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911, following a race with the English explorer Robert Scott. Scott made it to the South Pole shortly after Amundsen but he and his four companions all died on the return journey.
Yes, there are southern lights. The aurora australis occurs around the southern magnetic pole, much as the aurora borealis (northern lights) occurs around the northern magnetic pole. Unlike the northern lights, which are seen across northern North America, Europe and Asia where a few million people live, the southern lights are seen only over Antarctica, where fewer people spend the
If Antarctica's ice sheets melted, an event that would take thousands of years to occur, the world's oceans would rise by approximately 200 feet (60 meters).
Ice fish are a unique group of fish found in Antarctica. Ice fish have evolved a variety of interesting physiological and biochemical adaptations that allow them to survive in the freezing, ice-laden waters of the Southern Ocean at temperatures that would freeze the blood of other fish. They do not have a swim bladder, and they spend much of their
Antarctica is a continent but not a country. The land is managed under the Antarctic Treaty, originally signed in 1959 by the 12 countries involved in scientific studies on the continent at that time. It now includes 48 countries from around the world. The treaty ensures the freedom of scientific investigation and cooperation, prohibits military activities and mining, prohibits nuclear
The Solar Oven Science activity was developed as a way to target conservation of energy. Some students understand that he sun can be used for heating and cooking but they mistakenly think that this can only work in deserts. Because of conservation of energy solar cooking and heating can work in temperate and even arctic environments. The linked