The science content was mostly familiar to me but I found that the added perspective of those who have lived in the Arctic for tens of thousands of years added immensely to my greater understanding of a fairly complex issue. The changes that are occurring in the Arctic as the global climate changes is particularly interesting to me and the resources that demonstrated that were very useful,
Arctic Climate System and
How the Arctic Ecosystem Might Change .
I thought that the discussion about feedback mechanisms was a very good way to convey the interconnectedness of the systems studied and the impact that humans have had/continue to have on those, sometimes delicately balanced, systems. Beyond the resources mentioned above, I will use the climate resources when I teach the subject later in the year. I will also be using the resources about phase changes and the earth’s albedo in physical science in connection with learning about states of matter and energy transfer.
I read an interesting and pertinent article in a recent issue of
Science News.
Arctic Lake Yields Climate Record (Witze, November 20, 2010) “It took the better part of a decade, $10 million, and help from the guys who build ice roads for Canadian truckers. But scientists now have the most continuous record of ancient climate ever extracted from the terrestrial Arctic.”
Last summer (as part of the
Maury Project) I visited the
National Ice Center, near Washington DC.
...operated by the United States Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the United States Coast Guard. Our mission is to provide the highest quality, timely, accurate, and relevant snow and ice products and services to meet the strategic, operations, and tactical requirements of the United States interests across the global area of responsibility.
The data that we observed while there showed that the ice left over from year to year was less and less over recent history. Together with those who had analyzed the data, we discussed the possible ramifications of this phenomena. I might add that it was very interesting to be right there at the cutting edge of data collection and analysis!
Check out this page of their website that shows near-real-time satellite data from the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS). There are some interesting links at the bottom of this same page.
Blogs Visited:
Matt - Disturbing news about radioactive caribou from using nuclear weapons to create a harbor, I had never heard of that. But I’m also sad to say that it's probably not the worst there is to learn about that era in our history.
Esther - I too thought the air surfing was pretty cool. I'm sharing it with my students at the start of our unit on the atmosphere, weather, and climate. I'm sure it will get their attention!
Kristen - Cute photo of a relaxing kayaker.
