This lesson incorporates techniques and experimental designs used by researchers during the Southern Ocean Diatoms PolarTREC expedition and during post-expedition laboratory analysis. This guided inquiry lesson provides students the opportunity to explore photosynthesis and primary productivity using techniques to measure chlorophyll levels.
Objectives
SWBAT:
1. Use models to predict chlorophyll levels in the global oceans
2. Identify
Understanding Physical and Chemical Parameters of Ocean Water Using CTD Profiles
Overview
A focus of the PolarTREC Southern Ocean Diatoms expedition was to collect water samples and physical profile data using oceanographic technology. Oceanographers rely on the real-time data transferred from the water column to the ship-based computers using a CTD sensor. The CTD measures conductivity (salinity), temperature and depth
Article describing the final stages of this year's Operation IceBridge, the NASA campaign to maintain and expand on Arctic ice measurements. Along with PolarTREC teacher Mark Buesing, the IceBridge team has successfully completed a variety of aerial measurements on sea ice, sub-ice bedrock and Greenland's glaciers.
Using samples from a field site at Alaska's Hess Creek, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey collaborated to study how permafrost-dwelling microbes generate greenhouse gases as their environments thaw.
In this video adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, learn how one-celled organisms in permafrost may be contributing to greenhouse gas levels and global warming. Investigate how soil microbes, once thought to be dormant in cold temperatures, may actually be actively decomposing organic matter throughout the Alaskan winter and contributing significant amounts of
NPR and National Geographic teamed up to create an animated video series that begins with the basics of Carbon as an element and with 5 episodes draws the links between carbon and our warming planet. This is a part of the Climate Connections Series
Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are studying the East Siberian Arctic Shelf region and finding the seafloor there holds vast stores of frozen methane and is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas. In this video University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist Natalia Shakhova discusses the East Siberian Arctic Shelf area.
In an explosive clip from the BBC's landmark series, scientists drill into a frozen lake to ignite methane gas that is trapped in bubbles beneath the surface. Do greenhouse gases pose a signficant threat to our planet? Dr Iain Stewart assesses the dangers.
University of Alaska Fairbanks Professor Katey Walter Anthony takes us onto a frozen lake in Fairbanks, AK to demonstrate why methane gas has "exploded" onto the climate change scene.