Final Project:: Global Climate Change in Alaska and the Arctic

Objectives for my final project are
  1. Create a visual, self-guided interactive display using the Magic Planet
 2. Use topics that are engaging and relevant to students as well as community members
 3. Show the direct impacts and extent of changes in sea ice and snow cover in the Arctic 
 4.  Encourage participants to think about strategies for changes that are happening now or may happen in the future.

Goals and Rationale 

 The Challenger Learning Center of Alaska recently acquired a Magic Planet display globe for educational presentations at the center.  My goal is to make an interactive display that can be used as:

·         A walk-in activity for community members

·          A self-guided display for students when they stay overnight at the center

·         A display for educational presentations that uses real data

·         An interactive station for students when participating in the Earth mission in our simulated spacecraft.

Global climate change is relevant to all of us, especially those living in the furthest north latitudes.  There is a lot of data out there, including statistics about the temperature rise per year, the square miles of change in the ice pack, rates of glacial retreats and associated volumes, and much more.  However, these numbers are hard to comprehend to scientists in the field, so imagine how abstract they are to the average citizen!  By putting some of the data on the display globe in a visual format, the data can be more easily comprehended.  The data also becomes “real” when you see it and can relate it to something you know, such as when it is displayed on a map.  Changes over time can be seen and they become much more meaningful that the numbers alone. 

Our center currently does not have any walk- in displays.  We schedule programs for school and other groups, but do not have any activities for individuals or family groups.  This project will start to fill that niche and at the same time provide relevant information to visitors to the center.

Project Description

Main Screen choices

There will be three icons on the main touch screen to choose from:

1.       The Land and the Ice

2.       The Weather

3.      The Oceans

Under each choice, the user will be able to access time –lapse maps, interactive, and short video clips as described below.  This format will allow additional icons and materials to be easily added to the display.

The  Magic Planet is designed to be an interactive display. I plan on collaborating with our IT employee as I will need help with the process of downloading files in the correct format for display on the Magic Planet.

I. The Land and the Ice

Photo credit: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/marine_mammals/

The user will choose from the following three options.

1. Sea Ice Map a link that has maps of polar sea ice over time.  The maps can be input through Story Teller software on the Magic Planet and displayed on the globe.  Users will be able to scroll through temporal data.

   2. The Cryosphere Today a website with daily ice pack maps that can be loaded onto and displayed on the Magic Planet globe.

 

 3. Ice Packs of the Past which has maps of ice coverage over Alaska during the last ice age.  I will have to figure out how to download these files in a format that the Magic Planet can display.

 4. Cultural Connections:  a video from Teachers Domain,  Hunters Navigate the Warming Climate, which discusses how hunting on the ice is changing as the ice changes.

  II. The Ocean

Clam Gulch, AK. (Photo by K. East)

 The user will choose from the following four options:

 1. Global Sea Temperatures with maps of sea temperatures from 2001 to 2010.  Participants will be able to scroll through and see how the temperatures change over time.

  

  2. What happens if the ice melts? This is the interactive that shows what may happen to shorelines as the ice melts.

3.  Oceans and Winds which will pull up maps from  Earth Observatory showing ocean and wind currents.

4. Cultural Connections:  Saving Shismaref: The high price of global warming.  This video clip shows the damage occurring in Shismaref and some of the options that residents are forced to choose from.

 III. The Weather

Contrail cloud over Kenai, AK (Photo by K. East)

  The following four options will be available to choose from:

     1. Land Temperatures and how they are changing.  The land temperature maps from Earth Observatory will be displayed so that the user can scroll through available maps over time and see how temperatures are changing.

      2. El Nino and La Nina These earth observatory maps show the effects of the weather phenomenon known as El Nino and La Nina, and the changes in annual precipitation.  The changes over time can be observed.

      3. What's the weather today?  The Magic Planet software can link up to the internet and display near  real time data (I believe it's within the last 4 hours).  I don't know the link - it's on the Magic Planet menu at work:)

     4. Cultural Connection: Unpredictability This video discusses Arctic Climate Perspectives and how the changing climate is affecting the people of Barrow.  The can not depend on old knowledge as the weather and climate rapidly change.

I am looking forward to implementing this display. I am also going to implement blogging as part of a class I am working on for the school district, and possibly as part of our summer camp.  Thanks to Clay and all the participants with their great feedback for making this an awesome course!

Climate, Ice, Terrestrial Ice, and Alaskan Indigenous Cultures….

How appropriate that we are studying ice as I am freezing in my living room! (Welcome winter!)

In the summer of 1982, I took a trip to Glacier Bay, Alaska.  This glacier (I think it is the Muir Glacier) was a tidewater glacier.

Tidewater Glacier August 1982 (Photo by K. East)

Visiting the same place 20 years later, the beach was entirely exposed.  The glacier had retreated up the valley.  I would not have recognized it as the same place.  In geologic time, this is a mere blip….an observation of how quickly things can change.   

From Documenting Glacial Change

 The side by side photos of several Alaska's glacier on this interactive website  show the changes that have occurred in recent time.  A very concrete way to illustrate changes in our environment on a human time scale.

A few years ago I acquired and read the read the book The Earth is Faster Now: Indigenous Observations of Arctic Environmental Change. The title comes from a statement by an Alaska Native, Mabel Toolie who was referring to how the weather is changing.  The old ways of predicting the weather are no longer valid. Her explanation was that the rapidly changing weather was due to the earth moving faster. Shameless plug: great book  discussing climate change and the impact on Indigenous Arctic cultures. 

Explain

A tundra lake in Denali National Park (photo by K. East)

Losing Permafrost taught me about the effects of melting permafrost on lakes.  This is one of those effects that is counter-intuitive.  When I thought of melting permafrost,  it included visions of “drunken trees”, buildings falling of their foundations, and lots of mucky, watery soil.  These effects are certainly indications of melting permafrost.  The surprising part is that melting permafrost can drain lakes! When the ground ice melts, it makes a path for surface water to drain.  The Inuit speaker in Melting Permafrost tells about the lake draining and taking all the freshwater fish with it.  Dramatic changes like this certainly has an impact on the way of life of people in the area, as much as it has an impact on the ecosystem.

In studying global warming, I was aware of the ups and downs in global temperatures that occur as part of the natural cycle on earth.  I was also aware that the current change is happening faster, and many people “blame” humans for causing a faster change in temperature and thus in climate.  What I didn’t realize was that there  have been rapid changes in the past.  These changes can occur on even a yearly basis as described in the Melting Permafrost video. It is eye-opening to hear the discussion of abrupt change.  Rapid climate changes occurred after last ice age on a scale of decades rather than a scale of thousands of years! Scientists do not understand the threshold or trigger mechanism that may cause these abrupt changes; nor when it may happen.  This fact adds increases the level of concern we need to have over impending climatic changes, whether caused by humans or other factors. 

 Mammoth

An interesting example of rapid climate change was recently discovered in  Snowmass, CO. While digging an expansion for the town reservoir, preserved bones of both mastodons and mammoths were unearthed.

The animals lived in different climates, but were both found here. One explanation for finding them together has to do with rapid climate change.  They may have been trapped in an environment that was not conducive to either species as the climate and the land around them changed.

Kathy and Oreo near Chugiak, AK

h yeah, one more interesting thing!  I never thought about ice being a barrier to evaporation. Duh!  This component of the whole feedback loop for warming temperatures, reflection and absorption of solar radiation, evaporation and weather changes is an important step.  The thermodynamic and albedo properties of ice are the ones we (or me!) most often think of.

Extend

As with every week, there is so much material that can be incorporated into the classroom.   I really like the website showing earth's water and snowflake snowflake distribution.  This would be a great interactive source for students to explore, followed by a graphing activity where they can create a visual representation of the data.  It would also be interesting for the students to look at the portion of the world’s water and snow found in Alaska.  This would be a good activity across science, geography, and math.

Methane in frozen lake

Dr. Katey Walker explains the consequences of melting permafrost and the implications of methane in the atmosphere.  What a great way to hook kids – although you would have to issue a cautionary statement of “do not try this at home!” This is an awesome way to keep the student’s interest and explain the impacts of melting permafrost.

Evaluate

If the relevance of melting ice and permafrost is not already obvious to students and community members, it soon will be.  Whether you live where the coastline may dramatically change

or inland where the ground is becoming unstable.

Perhaps community members and students could become involved in measuring permafrost changes and reporting data to the Frozen Ground Data Center. Tunnel Man Episode 3 shows how to make a frost tube and how it works.  I also like how they include thermodynamics into the explanation (and you can sing along!)

 

3 Colleagues  

Alicia Weaver and the cryosphere: How exciting that you can directly apply some of these concepts with your students!  Ice and temperature affect their lives daily, unlike in some communities where students are inside all the time.  I agree with the statement about mother earth being in “climate crisis.”

 Eric Ellefson on changing climate: I had to go read the article from Scientific American.  Interesting concept!  Not sure how practical, but at least people are thinking about how to cut down on green house gasses.  Thanks for sharing!

Cheryl Williams on sea ice: Great information about monitoring with the frost tube.  I think that would be a very engaging activity with students.