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By, Louise Huffman, Kate Pound & Robin Frisch-Gleason (with help from the galley staff, McMurdo Station, Antarctica!) Background: Ice sheets cover almost all of East and West Antarctica, and most of Greenland. They are as much as 3 km thick. As snow accumulates, it gets buried and turns to ice. The ice flows out from the center of accumulation, and then moves across the landscape under the influence of gravity. The ice follows existing valleys and other low points; eventually it will cover the entire landscape; only the highest peaks might poke through the ice. The ice may also carve its own valleys. The ice may be blocked by mountains. If the ice reaches the ocean it floats on the water as an ice shelf. Objectives: To model how ice shee...

Ice Sheet Press Release More About Ice Sheets Please use the listed press contacts, lead scientist, or profiled expert in the following pages to learn more about IPY Projects Studying Ice Sheets ...

How does ice floating on the ocean act as it melts? Download this activity as a PDF: What Happens When Sea Ice Melts How does ice floating on the ocean act as it melts? Main photo: Salt water on left and fresh on right Materials per pair of students: 2-2 oz. blue ice cubes (In a small plastic cup, freeze 2 ozs of water mixed with 6 drops of blue food coloring) 2-16 ounce clear cups (Fill one with tap water and one with tap water saturated with salt) Directions: 1. Draw two glasses on a piece of paper. 2. Label one “fresh water” and the other “salt water.” 3. Draw a predict...

Follow the below ideas or print off this Compare your Towns flyer. Directions: Compare your town / school to a town / school in the Arctic in the Canadian, Northwest Territories using the data and images available in the Windows Around the World program. To do the comparison complete the table below, for the Arctic town/school you may use either the Angik School located in Paulatuk (located above the tree line in the tundra) or Moose Kerr School (located in the Mackenzie River Delta within the Arctic tree line). If you live in the Arctic, how does your town / school compare to one of these other t...

The sea near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, is -2° C, but the water is not frozen at that temperature. Why? In this activity, students can explore some of the properties of water and ice by making their own ice cream. MATERIALS: (per pair of students) 2 heavy duty ziploc bags per student—1 large and 1 small ½ cup milk 1 Tablespoon sugar ½ teapoon vanilla Ice salt 2 spoons 2 bowls DIRECTIONS: 1. Place the milk, vanilla and sugar in the small Ziploc bag and carefully close it, being sure there are no leaks. 2. Place the small bag inside the larger one. 3. Surround the small bag with ice to ½ the large bag capacity. 4. Give each pair of students a differen...

Photo from Baffin Bay Do one or several of these investigations and think about the results. • Measure the temperature in the snow and compare with the temperature in the air. • Mix ice or snow with water in a beaker and measure the temperature. What will happen if you change the proportions of the mix? Try to explain. • Put ice or snow in a beaker. Measure the temperature. Pour salt in the beaker and stir. Do the temperature change? Why or why not? • Measure the air temperature with a common thermometer. Wrap a thin kitchen paper around the thermometer and make the paper wet. Does the temperature change? Wave the wet thermometer and make a new reading. Try to explain. Imagine if you are living in the Arctic. ...

On March 1st, 2007, students around the world are participating in ice experiments to celebrate the launch of the International Polar Year. To show that you've taken part in some kind of IPY activity, launch a virtual balloon by following these simple instructions. You can visit the map with everyone's balloon markers on this site, or have it on your own website. Instructions for adding your own marker on the map: [Update: Be sure to use the "IPY" tag to add your balloon to the official map. (The test map used "ipylaunch2007".)] Step 1: Get a free account with Tagzania. Tagzania is a free location-tagging service. Once you have...

Looking for activities you might use in the classroom for the IPY launch? Check out the "Ice in the Solar System" Exploring Ice in the Solar System, a NASA-funded educational CD authored by Dr. Richard Shope from JPL and produced by Dr. Julie Edmonds at the Carnegie Academy for Science Education for the Carnegie Institutions of Washington MESSENGER and Astrobiology projects, was rated "outstanding" in a NASA space science education product review. Twelve conceptual change lessons spring out from the activated curiosity inspired by the central Ice Experience lesson, moving from exploring ice in everyday life, to ice at the Polar Regi...

Photo courtesy of ACE CRC (photographer Simon Marsland) Ice Investigation #1: If icebergs melt, will sea level rise? Materials (per pair or team): deep dish pie or cake pan, toothpick, modelling clay, 2-3 ice cubes, water, clear plastic wrap 1. Give each team of students a pan and a lump of clay. 2. Mould the shape of a continent, pressing the edges flat against the pan. 3. Pour in water to partially cover the clay continent. 4. Put several ice cubes in the water to represent icebergs. (Note: The more ice you use, the easier it will be to see any changes in water level.) 5. Trace the water level into the clay with a toothpick or pencil. 6. Cover the pan with clear plastic wrap to prevent evaporation of t...