Launch a virtual balloon to show your involvement, and watch as people around the world join in!
Take part in the live web conferencing connection with the Antarctic.
Quick Ways that Teachers and Students can learn more about Ice Sheets, and get involved during the week of December 13th!
1. Learn About Ice Sheets and IPY:
by reading this Ice Sheets Primer or printing off this downloadable PDF
2. Launch a Virtual Balloon
3. Join the IPY Teachers discussion group to learn more about our activities.
4. Ice Sheets in the Classroom:
Model how ice sheets build up at, and flow away from, ice centres. Learn how mountain ranges and valleys constrain the movement of ice. (Recipe for clay at end.)
Download an Ice Sheet Day flyer in your language:
Afrikaans
?? (Chinese)
Danish
Nederlands (Dutch)
English
Suomeksi (Finnish)
Francais (French)
Deutsch (German)
Greenlandic
Icelandic
Inuktitut
Italian
??? (Japanese)
Malay
Norwegian
Português (Portugese)
Espanol (Spanish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Blank (Make Your Own)
Recipe for home-made clay
1 cup salt, 1½ cups flour, ½ cup vegetable oil, water
Mix ingredients with enough water to make a clay —like thick cookie dough—adjust water and flour until it is easy to mould—humidity may affect the quantities
5. Talk to Antarctica
PolarTrec will host a special Live from IPY event connecting schools to researchers in Antarctica who are studying ice sheets.
Thursday December 13th, 1730 UTC =California 0930, East coast US 1230, Greenland 1430, UK 1730, Continental Europe 1830.
Since this is 0100 Beijing China, 0200 Tokyo Japan, 0400 Sydney Australia, 0600 Auckland NZ, you can also watch this event the next day in the PolarTrec archives.
6. Follow the daily updates from Antarctic Researchers:
Norwegian-US Scientific Traverse of Antarctica Diary
US International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition Log Book
Learn more about
IPY Expeditions occurring at the moment
IPY projects studying Ice Sheets
Educational Resources about Ice Sheets:
ANDRILL:
Ice Sheets, Ice Shelves, and Ocean Circulations classroom activity.
Really nice Video overview of ice, including ice sheets.
There is also a set of activities and banners with Ice Sheet information in Antarctica's Climate Secrets activity book
"Glaciers, Climate, and the Landscape". A PDF, second item down in this On-line reading list. An easy read and intended for students. Lots of pictures and illustrations to highlight glaciers and climate. (Zach Smith)
Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2: A Record of Climate Change
In 1993 the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 finished drilling through the Greenland Ice Sheet from the top to the ground bottom below the glacier. This ice core drilling project was directed by the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. The recovered ice core record enabled scientists to piece together the most detailed record of Earth's climate for the last 110,000 years and some answers to the puzzle of how temperature, atmospheric gases, and other atmospheric particles interact to create climate. Read this article in The Science Teacher (PDF) to learn more about the activity.
Build Your Own Ice Core (Ocean Drilling Distance Learning Programme)
Tour of the Cryosphere
This 5-minute movie presents an overview of the cryosphere and how changes within the cryosphere can impact people and the environment. Remotely-sensed data from several instruments on NASA satellites are use to
1) illustrate the various components of the cryosphere (ice sheets, glaciers, icebergs, sea ice, snow, permafrost),
2) show how the cryosphere affects people living in mid-latitudes, not just in polar regions, and
3) show how the cryosphere has been changing in recent years.
Windows to the Universe - Earth's Polar Regions
A collection of Web pages for all ages, for learning about the Arctic and Antarctic. Includes articles, stories, games, Postcards from the Field: Antarctica, and resources for teaching about polar regions and the cryosphere.
Norwegian-US Traverse of Eastern Antarctica
Polar Puzzles, Activities, and Student International Collaboration opportunities.
MY NASA DATA
Includes classroom lessons and activities using "microsets" of NASA data (i.e., dataset specifically developed for educational uses). The site includes a page with lessons specially related to IPY.
NASA's Earth Observatory
Include articles on wide-ranging Earth science topics. Articles related to Ice sheets include:
Greenland's Ice Island Alarm
Space-Based Ice Sight
Something Under the Ice is Moving
Fragment of its Former Shelf
The Melting of the Grinnell Glacier. Glacier National Park
In this activity, students will determine the rate and amount of change of melting of the Grinnell Glacier over the last 100 years in Glacier National Park, USA
The Climate Time Machine activity
Using fossil pollen to study climate change
Understanding Relative and Absolute Dating: The Age of Snow/Ice or Sediment Layers
In this activity, middle school students use "volcanic tephra" (confetti) in order to determine the relative and absolute ages of snow/ice layers in glaciers.
NSIDC Resources
Larsen B collapse
-Animated GIF of the Larsen B ice shelf collapse
-Animation of Larsen B collapse in Google Earth; see "Breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf"
IceTrek expedition
-NSIDC Lead Scientist Ted Scambos and an international team of scientists are studying ice shelf breakup using Antarctic icebergs as a proxy. The "blog" followed the scientists during their long expedition to Antarctica, and the site is full of incredible photography and descriptions of their adventures.
-Google Earth file showing IceTrek iceberg drift information; see "IceTrek iceberg tracks".
Second print run of our IPY poster is now available. The poster was created with educators and students in mind.
Climate Reconstruction: Using Foraminifera contained in Deep Sea Sediments
In this exercise, students will understand how deep sea sediments are collected and analyzed to identify various *foraminifera* species which are used to interpret global *paleo temperature/climate *change. This is accomplished using pasta which is substituted for foraminifera which are collected and analyzed in order to develop a paleotemperature/climate change record. Throughout the activity video clips have been inserted that will help students connect their work with the research of scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Passport To the Poles: Polar Futures, including an interactive on Polar Ice sheets.
The rate at which the world is changing is greater than ever before in human history and people are placing increasing pressures on its resources. The 'View from the classroom' section of the website enables school students, mainly between 9 and 14, around the world to have a voice and submit their personal accounts to bring alive the places and environments they live in, from some of the biggest cities on earth to remote wilderness areas. It encourages them to reflect upon their own use of resources and 'footprint' and to consider their future and the shared future of the planet.
Students are encouraged to communicate with each other through a moderated 'blog' and develop an understanding of the links and interactions between the Poles and other global areas. The site raises awareness and better understanding of their various ways of life and comparison of different lifestyles. The teachers' area provides teaching tips and learning objectives.
The website was inspired by the record breaking Polar First journey to the South and North Poles.
Activities on Ice Sheets: 44 suggestions from the DLESE Digital Library