On Thin Ice

This week we added another strand to the web of systems that allow this planet to function. The connections continue.

The cryosphere, that part of the earth covered with snow and ice, has a function that is little appreciated by most living in the mid and low latitudes. But the fact of the matter is that the ice caps serve as the “canary in the coal mine”, crucial indicators of the health of the entire planet. From the TD video The Cryosphere: The Arctic : “Because of the interrelationships between the cryosphere and other parts of the Earth system, any change in the cryosphere will have implications for climate worldwide.” Atmospheric and thermohaline circulation patterns affect all of us, not just residents of the far north. Extreme changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level, and seasons have profound effects on culture, economy, politics, and lifestyles across the globe... maybe the reason for the title of the image below:

The Arctic is the early warning, the health barometer for the planet. Whatever happens in the world occurs here first. If you wish to see how healthy the planet is, come here to take its pulse. (Sheila Watt- Cloutier).

This quote is a lead in to the cultural videos from this weeks module. Shishmaref is just one of many communities dealing with extreme erosion problems in connection with climate change.

We also learned of the thinning of the ice, the skewing of the seasons: shorter winters, longer summers, and changes in the biotic composition of the ecosystem. Far removed from mainstream culture, native communities struggle with the rapid onset of multiple ecological catastrophes.

The upside to this is the resilience of the people like Sheila Watt-Cloutier, and groups like the Inuit Circumpolar Council and the 2009 Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change and their willingness to confront climate change on a global stage.

Finally, this weeks module was filled with great “hands on” experiments to compliment some abstract physics concepts such as transfer of energy, the albedo effect, and volume displacement of ice. These are excellent activities, as are many of the Digital Bits experiment. Some of the material in this module is outside the scope of my science curriculum but I am finding it so engaging that I am envisioning ways to incorporate it into my lesson. I might have to turn my “Sea Week” into “Sea Month”.