Button up: This week we visit the cryosphere!

Button up: This week we visit the cryosphere!  

How ironic that one of the important pieces of the global warming puzzle is the cryosphere!  I first learned that term in a class last summer.  Until then, I had never thought about earth’s icy caches as being such a vital part of our climate and more specifically of climate change.  

Children in Pt. Hope, AK (Photo by K. East)

Explain

Water, water everywhere….

Ice is a neat substance. The only solid that takes up more space than it does in a liquid form.  The common  idea is that as glaciers and icecaps melt, the sea level will rise.  It will contribute to sea level  rise, but I had not thought about the volume.  The salinity and density of water plays an important role in the volume and thus in the amount of sea level rise.  As with most things in nature, nothing is as simple as it seems!

Sea Ice off Pt. Hope, AK (Photo by K. East)

Water can make an awesome inquiry lab in and of itself.  Students of all ages can experiment with  density, surface tension, volume changes between states, and dissolution of solids (like salt) in water.

Inuit Circumpolar Council

I did not know about the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) before reading this week’s material. 

I was struck by the statement about Mother Earth:

”Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life.

Indigenous Peoples have a vital role in defending and healing Mother Earth. The future of

Indigenous Peoples lies in the wisdom of our elders, the restoration of the sacred position of

women, the youth of today and in the generations of tomorrow.”

 From Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change – Anchorage declaration.

This really sums up the extreme importance of climate change on indigenous peoples and their way of life.  I particularly like the statement about climate crisis.  The earth has undergone climate change in the past, but not under the same circumstances or as quickly as it is now.  “Climate crisis” seems a very appropriate way to describe the state of our climate. 

Permafrost

I have experience the impacts of permafrost.  My back door closes fine in the summer, but in the winter as the ground freezes, the door gets harder and harder to close as the floor rises on top of the expanding soil volume.   

I knew there was a section of Colorado that has permafrost, but I had no idea that 55% of the northern hemisphere is permafrost.  Wow – it is hard to imagine the impact on buildings, roads, and ecosystems if and when it melts!

Ice on the Kenai River (Photo by K. East)

Extend

The NASA satellite data is spectacular.  I will be able to use it with our Magic Planet display and in conjunction with our global warming curriculum.  It is very interesting to compare the satellite data with the oral and written records of Arctic people.  Both views are very important and can contribute to our overall understanding of the cryosphere.  This is a great way for students to explore how different points of view, one close up and one from space, contribute to the “big picture.”  

From: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

The ICE sat website provides some great explanations about how the satellites collect data and how that data is analyzed. This is a good one to use for middle and high school.










The ICC is very committed to helping to fix the problem and not just complain about it.  They have very specific suggestions on topics such as how to decrease pollution and how indigenous people can become involved in the process.  This can be a resource for students to look at what they can do to be a part of the climate change solution.

The ICC stated:

"We offer to share with humanity our Traditional Knowledge, innovations, and practices

relevant to climate change, provided our fundamental rights as intergenerational

guardians of this knowledge are fully recognized and respected. We reiterate the urgent

need for collective action. "

Solar Reflections on the Kenai City Beach (Photo by K. East)

The interactive on albedo will be great for students to explore that concept.  We talk about albedo a lot in astronomy also, and this is a good way for students to get a feel for what it is.  I really like using interactives for several reasons.  Students can go at their own pace, moving ahead when they are ready.  They are involved and have to participate, unlike class discussions or reading where you can sneak by and not really participate.  It’s kind of like having several instructors in the class that can focus on individual students.  I think it also gives some ownership to the students that can be very motivational.

The Digital Bits Science Lab website is awesome!  I am always looking for quick and interesting labs or demonstrations to do in class.  This website will definately go in my toolbox.

Steve McLean, an Inupiaq scientist has a unique and interesting way to look at the interaction of humans in the ecosystem. In his interview, it states 

"MacLean believes scientists should not separate people from natural systems in their research and recommendations. Instead, they should treat people as part of the natural systems." 

I wholeheartedly agree.  We are part of the natural system and have a major impact on the world around us.  Whether  you agree that human actions (or in-actions) are good or bad, they are!

Evaluate

Everything this week is very relevant to Alaskan students and community members.  The cryosphere is full of fascinating interactions.  It contributes to ocean currents and weather patterns around the world, including at the equator which is unexpected to most people.  It contributes significantly to the earth’s  “energy budget” and how solar radiation is absorbed or reflected.  The image of the polar caps being a white brimmed hat is very powerful and a great way to get the idea across to people. 

The cryosphere is a great way to show an example of positive feedback.  There are so many systems in nature that are positive feedback loops and this is one that is fairly easy to explain and use as an example.

Along the same lines, the irony of how decreasing pollution levels may contributing to global warming is very relevant to students and community members alike.  It is a great discussion point to look at how all actions have consequences, both good and bad.  Community decisions have to be a balance of these two sides while keeping in mind that there may also be unforeseen consequences.

The Visible Earth has great NASA satellite pictures of changes in cryosphere.  Students can use these to quantify changes over time in the polar ice cap.

Global warming will impact the ecosystem and humans! From: National Forest Legal News Blog

3 colleagues

Janet Reed

http://culturalconnectionsinearthscience.blogspot.com/

I really like your idea for measuring temps and snow fall.  This is a great way to get kids outside and looking at the world right under their feet.  It is also a perfect inquiry project and way to show that what sometimes seems logical isn’t always so!

Tracey R. Pulido

http://chenalakesfarm.blogspot.com/

Interesting perspective on birth control….not sure it’s appropriate to share with students, though.

After the ice storm in Fairbanks, this would be a great opportunity to have students look at the effects of global warming and the crysosphere right in their backyard!

Alicia Weaver

http://www.scienceinalaska.blogspot.com/

Module 6: I enjoyed reading your reflections and ideas about pollution in Alaska.  I, too, immediately think of pollution and big cities or populated areas and don’t think about pollution being in Alaska. It is very sobering to realize that we experience the pollution here and in a concentrated form!

Climatic Change and Cultural Observations

Climatic Change and Cultural Observations

I hope that most people realize how real climate change is by now. There is indisputable evidence that our weather (and climate) are changing.  The reason is not clear.  Nor is the decision of whether it is good or bad or how much things will change. But it is changing, and it is important that our students and community members learn about climate change and how it will potentially affect their lives in the future.

 I do dog agility...some of my lab's best buddies are corgies!

Explain

Human activity, such as migration, is connected to climate change.  Whether global warming or global cooling, it will affect how we live and where we live.  Although we don’t really think about human migration in the same sense as when the Americas and other parts of the world were populated, climate change will cause human migration in this modern age.  We have built our cities near the oceans, at the base of glaciers, and on permafrost.  As the climate warms, people are going to have to move to “higher ground” when the ocean level rises and as glaciers and permafrost melt.  Ocean flood level maps is a neat interactive that shows the changes on coastlines around the world with increases in sea level.  I will use this resource with students!

I really enjoyed the video  Inuit Observations of Climate Change.  It is appropriate that scientists are looking to the Inuit for data about climate change.  Although they may not have written records, they possess a long and accurate history of the ecosystem over a period of thousands of years.  Without the indigenous knowledge, we do not have a baseline for comparison. 

A really good book I recently read is The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change by Charles Wohlforth.  Charles writes about how climate change is affecting the indigenous people of northern Alaska and how their lifestyle is already starting to change.  He provides some very concrete examples of how Western scientists are looking at indigenous knowledge and applying it to the future. 

Jack Lane, Pt. Hope resident  March 2010

 

(Photo by K. East)

I had the opportunity to travel to Pt. Hope last spring, and was there when the ice broke up and the bowhead whaling season began.*  It was interesting to talk to the people about whaling.   One hunter told me, “The ice broke early last year, too, and we weren’t ready for it.  This year we are ready!” 

*Unfortunately, a whale was not landed until after I left. 

This week I learned about microbes that live and continue decomposition at temperatures below freezing.  I knew they could survive the low temperatures, but not that they keep working!  The consequences are enormous for places like Alaska.  This discovery has implications when looking for extremophiles in places as remote as Mars.  If the bacteria can live in sub-zero temperatures here, they could be also living on Mars!

Science Blog by Ethan Siegel

“We are all stardust” I tell my students in astronomy.  It is amazing that we are made of the same stuff as stars and that we may have been part of a supernova billions of years ago.  And that the Earth, residing in the Goldilocks Zone around our star, evolved an atmosphere suited for human life. 

The Jewel Box taken by the Hubble Telescope

Extend

Where can I use all this information?  Pretty much in any area I teach: astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology, earth science, general science, weather, and community events!  The question might be where I can’t use this information!  I think just the fact that it applies to almost any part of science is testimony of how interconnected global climate change is to everything and everyone. 

How to explain global warming to your relatives in the Lower 48

Evaluate

The material presented in this module is very relevant to each and every one of us.  The material spans an enormous span: from the beginning of the Earth to now.  When the earth was first formed, we would hardly recognize it; nor would we be able to inhabit it.  The earth changed slowly but dramatically over millions of years, and it continues to change.  Perhaps the day will come when it will have changed so much that once again it will become uninhabitable for humans.  In the mean time, we need to continue to try and understand what changes are taking place, and how humans are contributing to the changes.  We have the power to control our actions, such as using energy that adds carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.  Some of the changes may be beyond our control, such as changes in solar radiation as the sun goes through its cyclic life.  It is just as important to understand those changes so that we can adapt to our ever-changing environment.

Pt. Barrow, Alaska  March 2009 (photo by K. East)

The people who are most intimately connected with the land need to be the most aware.  That includes the Alaska Native populations that depend on subsistence for their cultural and their very survival.  As changes occur, some of their culture may be lost, and at the least some of it will change.

Three Colleagues

Janet Reed http://culturalconnectionsinearthscience.blogspot.com/

Thanks for sharing the NASA Interactive Quizzes http://climate.nasa.gov/quizzes/index.cfm

– great resource that I will use!  I also like your comments about teachers taking the quizzes and getting the wrong answers.  Humbles us now and then to be the student and learn what we don’t know!

Amy Peeke http://amysexplorealaskablog.blogspot.com/

I, too, really enjoyed “Inuit Observations of Climate Change”  and learning about how the Inuit women can tell about the condition of the environment by the fat layer in the animals.  Growing up and living in an urban area (well, urban for Alaska), that would never have occurred to me.  What a great illustration of how Native knowledge is just as scientific and valid as Western knowledge.

Alison Larson http://explorealaskawithalison.blogspot.com/

I’m not for sure about this, but my understanding is that the carbon dioxide is given off by the microbes (bacteria, fungi and others) as they decompose the plant or animal.  Swamp gas is mostly methane, another green house gas that can also be produced through the process of decomposition (like what cows do lol!)  Anyone else have an explanation?  I’d like to know for sure, too!

Module VI: The Atmosphere Around

Module VI: Oceans above, oceans below

"The sun is a mass of incandescant gas" that drives everything!

Explain

As I read through this week’s material, what struck me in each passage was the “mass of incandescent gas” located 93 million miles away determines our weather and ultimately drives the oceans and  climate.  How cool is that?

Image from the Navy Research Laboratory

Solar Image from  the National Research Laboratory

Energy transfer

Cool….no hot…no wait!  That’s what drives all of these interconnected systems on our planet: temperature differences and energy transfer.  I am amazed how just a small temperature difference in the atmosphere (or in the ocean) can create wind and weather. 

I was reminded how evaporation and condensation are cooling processes.  I have done a demonstration of making rain for students where you heat up water in a pan (radiant heat from the earth).  When it starts boiling, you hold a pan of ice water about 12” from the above the boiling water. You can watch condensation and evaporation as the water boils and condenses.  It’s a quick and fun way to demonstrate one of the many processes that happen in our atmosphere.

Pollution transfer

Biomagnification:  it even sounds bad!  Because of our global weather patterns and how everything goes from “where it’s hot to where it’s not” (Clay Good) pollutants concentrate in the polar regions.  In turn, the pollutants that originated far away affect the indigenous polar cultures.  People living in the arctic regions are deeply tied to the land and sea.  I was struck by the comment in the video about the Inuit people.  Their traditional foods may no longer be safe to eat.  As a result, the people are having to change the lifestyle that they have enjoyed for thousands of years. It is incredible that the pollution created in densely populated areas half a world away can have such a profound effect.  The Inuit are now eating what their traditional foods eat! 

I have lost my identity....

Lamenting on Life as a Lobster

As Clay and the National Geographic video on Revealing the Earth’s Atmosphere pointed out, we are like lobsters crawling around on the bottom of an ocean of air.  I really like that analogy.  It gives a whole different perspective from which to view the world. 

Physics is Phun

The demonstrations about boiling water in a vacuum are awesome! Many Alaskan students can relate to the interaction of pressure and temperature by their experience with propane.  It’s a gas when you burn it, but a liquid in the tank.  I ask the students if they have ever put their hand on the tank – if they have, they know it is cold.  Then you can have a discussion about why the liquid propane is cold. Another great example is opening a can of pop while ice fishing…..another good demonstration of PV=nrT! 

The Tesla Coil in Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles (photo by K. East)

Extend

Talk about good timing – I am in the middle of a unit on weather for our home school program.  It couldn’t be more relevant and I will be using a lot of the material.  I will be using videos that explain and show how wind and ocean currents are set up.  Although students understand the basic idea that warmer (less dense) air rises and cooler (more dense) air sinks, putting that all together on a global scale is difficult.  The complicated interactions of heat, air, pressure, humidity, and temperature that drive the weather are hard to explain and demonstrate. The technology is great for being able to illustrate abstract concepts.

GOES infrared global mosaic

The information about biomagnifications of pollutants is very relevant to people in the community of Kenai.  Most people here fish for salmon. Salmon occupy a low trophic level,  however the concentrations of chemicals such as mercury can still be damaging.  It is crucial for cultures that rely on subsistence to be aware of these potential hazards.

Dip netting on Kenai City Beach (photo by K. East)

Explain

I will be able to use this information for the weather station in the Challenger Learning Center missions. We will be adding  the Mission to Earth and I will be able to design a station and curriculum specific to Alaska.  Our new Magic Planet projector can get almost real time weather from satellite data.  The background information presented in this unit is awesome.  The 3 interactives I will use are:          

Layers and composition of our atmosphere
The jetstream
The interaction of our ocean and the atmosphere

These will be used for individual students learning the basic concepts.  Then we can examine a global view on the Magic Planet.   What an awesome way to put it all in perspective for students! 

 

http://ventana.sierraclub.org/conservation/regional/polarBears.shtml

Antarctic Food Web Game

could be easily adapted for an Arctic food web.  As I played the game, I was thinking of adding the animal sound when a correct choice is made.

 3 Colleagues for this week:

Tyler Orbison

http://www.alaskanwisdom.blogspot.com/

Tyler makes an excellent connection between the jet stream and food.  The newspaper predicts the jet stream location will change, which affects the weather which affects the deer which affects the food supply.  Quite a connection in our daily lives that we normally don’t think about.  I also like the fact that Tyler mentions using the NOAA weather and satellite information for hunting.  It’s a great way to show students that all this science stuff can be very useful, even to the point where your life may depend on it.

Kevin Hamrick

http://ham28.blogspot.com/

The information about the study done by the institute in Nevada was very interesting.  Glad Kevin found that and shared it!  Just one more example of how we are all connected and why we all need to be aware of what is happening   - even if it happens half a world away!

Cheryl Emerson

http://www.emersonsexplorations.blogspot.com/

I’m excited that Cheryl can use this information to prepare her students for their visit to the Challenger Learning Center!  Even though they are “space” missions, there are a lot of earth science lessons embedded in them.  I was also excited to see that she is participating in EarthKam.  What a great way to give students a global perspective.  The same goes for being able to compare historical images on Google Earth – I love that feature!

Module V: Oceans all around abound!

Oceans all around abound!

Explain

As I was going through this weeks’ material, I kept coming back to one thought: The earth is such a complex, interconnected system – how can we even begin to comprehend it?   There are so many things that influence our dynamic planet.  Since oceans cover most of the planet, they are a formidable force determining our climate, weather, flora, fauna, and our very survival. 

Sixty years ago, latest Rachel Carson wrote about the research, “In only the uppermost half mile of Pacific equatorial waters, therefore, there are three great rivers of water, one above the other, each flowing on its own course independent of the other.”  From The Sea Around Us.From The Sea Around Us.  

Rachel Carson

If Rachel were alive today, imagine how intrigued she would be by the length and breadth of the rivers of water at great depths – those conveyer belts that distribute heat around the globe. Gradients in temperature and salinity which may seem trivial make these great rivers flow in oceans. 

The influence of global warming on ocean rivers is hard to imagine.  One thing is clear: as the temperature changes, so will the oceans and their influence on every part of our planet.

Imagine what Rachel Carson would have thought about the wonders we have discovered by looking down on our planet by satellite! We can monitor the oceans down to minute changes in temperature, sea level, and life such as phytoplankton concentration.  All this information can tell us what is happening miles beneath the surface.   Rachel would be awed; I want my students to feel some of that awe when they see those images.  I want them to be inspired and motivated to realize what wonders we can still discover using technology that allows an unprecedented view of our pale blue dot.

What have I learned?  That the oceans are a wonder that I cannot begin to comprehend!

Extend

As I work on developing curriculum for our GPS workshop and climate change at the Challenger Learning Center, all of this material is very relavent.  I want to incorporate some of the interactive websites in our activities.

The interactive website about the life and work of  Dolly Garza is a great way to show the integration of traditional cultural values and modern science in the study of the ocean.  It is important to present career choices to student. This interactive goes further by illustrating the successful career choices a Native Alaskan women made.

 Living from the Land and Sea  really shows the dependence of subsistence on seasonal changes and other natural phenomenon such as moon phases.  Today most urban people notice those things, but they are not an integral part of their daily live and certainly not part of their survival. 

I love the demonstration with the  water balloon demonstrating heat capacity.  I learned the term and all equations for heat capacity as an engineering student in college. I would have gotten the concept a lot better (and sooner) had my professor used the water balloon! BTW, great example of how young students can comprehend difficult concepts if they are presented in the right way.

Understanding seasons is a complicated concept, even for adults.  The video explaining seasons provides an understandable explanation. For those kinesthetic learners, I like to do a demonstration where one student is the earth (they hold an inflatable globe), one is the moon, and one is the sun (they hold a flash or other light source).  You can demonstrate how different parts of the earth get varying amounts of solar radiation during a year.

 Another good demonstration or lab to show how the amount of sunlight affects temperature starts by putting dirt in two pans.  Put a light source shining directly on one pan and at an angle on the other.  Have students predict whether or not the temperature of both pans will be the same over time.  It is amazing how much difference even a small angle of incidence can make!  Have the students follow up by placing a piece of graph paper under each light.  You can see the difference in the area covered by the light.  This is a great inquiry activity! 

The diving sperm whale activity is a unique the dramatic change in temperatures in the ocean. It can be a cross-curricular activity for math and graphing skills while explaining oceanic thermoclines.

The whale activity would be neat to use following the grape juice or Kool-Aid ice cube activity.  Make ice cubes out of grape juice or red Kool-Aid.  Place them in a clear container (an aquarium if available) and watch what happens.  You can really see the currents, and then extrapolate this idea to oceans. Another demonstration is to put two pieces of tubing between 2L soda bottles.  Put red colored hot water in one side and blue colored cold water in the other.  Watch the currents flow through the tubes! Here’s a video with catchy music to use as an alternative: Water Density Demonstration.

Evaluate

There are always those students who “don’t like science.”  It is a challenge to find things to pique their interest in science.  I found some of this weeks’ activities to be a great way to meet that challenge.

A nice hook for climatology is Print your Climatoscope . A totally unexpected way to lure them in! The ideas of ocean currents and climatic variations can be introduced along side this activity.

For the artists, the false color mapping is a cool way to interest them.  You can talk about how and why the colors are used, which can lead to all kinds of discussions about data presentation. Students can use the data and come up with their own way to present it.  Discussions about  how data can be presented in different ways to study different concepts is a valuable higher level cognitive activity for high school or college level students.   These types of activities are a way to get students to look at and begin to interpret the data from a seemingly non-science point of view.  (I’m one of those tricky teachers lol!)

3 Colleagues

 This week I enjoyed reading and commenting on these colleagues:

Alison Larson I, too, was disillusioned with the Coriolis effect…. when I was in Australia many years ago, I experimented with flushing a lot of toilets only to find it didn’t workL.  What does work to show the kids, though, is to take a dry erase (not red or permanent!) marker and as you are spinning the globe, move the marker from the equator to the poles.  Makes nice clockwise/counterclockwise lines on the earth that really shows how the wind and water patterns work!

Tommy Gossard

I love that you are using Google Earth in your classroom.  As this course goes on, I am discovering many ways to use different aspects of it in my teaching.  There is a tremendous variety of things you can do with it, even for space they have Google Mars and Google Moon (what will they think of next)!

P.S. I love the Kenai, too!

Tracy Pulido

I really like your idea about creating a circular montage with changing seasons and activities.  What a great way to decorate a classroom…maybe even decorate a new wall for each season throughout the year.   Having an elder share with the students somehow is really neat, too.  They are a resource that is often overlooked and fits in so well with the theme of this class.  Since you farm, you can really relate the cycles of the seasons and plant growth to the students – how neat!