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  The old ways of predicting the weather are no longer valid.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.