Reflecting on What is Happening to Greenland's Ice
Becca Walker, Mt. San Antonio College, InTeGrate; SERC
In this activity, students consider Greenland reflectivity changes from 2000 to 2012 and what albedo anomalies may indicate about how the Greenland ice sheet is changing in a case study format.
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This activity is the first of two case studies in Unit 4 of the InTeGrate module "Climate of Change: Interactions and Feedbacks between Water, Air, and Ice". Both case studies
examine changes in the Greenland ice sheet. The two case studies can be used independently or together, and there is an overarching teacher's guide that covers both case studies and provides additional background information [link http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/climate_change/unit4_cover.html].
Activity overview includes detailed teaching tips.
This activity addresses changes in reflectivity, or albedo, of the Greenland ice sheet over time and elevation.
The explanation(s) for why albedo changes seasonally at different elevations will not be obvious to most students, and this gives students an opportunity to have interesting group discussions and create evidence-based arguments. The longitudinal analysis is also non-trivial.
Comments from expert scientist:
Scientific strengths:
Overall excellent resource. Clear, concise, involves critical thinking - love it!
- students analyze, compare and interpret real, scientific data
- sketching a yearly albedo curve based solely on predictions from discussion
- teaching that reflectivity anomaly = current reflectivity â long-term average reflectivity
Students use albedo data from different elevations to determine changes in reflectivity from 2000 to 2012. Several themes guide students through this exercise and help to interpret the data.
- How has albedo changed at different elevations?
- What is the rate of change?
- What mechanisms are contributing to the change?
Students do the data-analysis part of this activity small groups with each student looking at data from a different elevation zone. The groups of students then compare their findings, synthesize them, and proceed with the rest of the activity.
The activity includes suggestions for how to structure the activity and address common questions.
Assessment strategies and sample questions are provided.
Guided by a well-structured Student Handout and a PowerPoint presentation that includes both photographs and data plots, students predict, observe, analyze, and discuss variations in reflectivity over time and space.
This activity is well thought out and carefully described. All of the materials are included and each step of the process is thoroughly documented. A shortened version of the activity is also included.
Unfortunately, link to original data plots (Ohio State, 2000-2012) is not functional as of review. Could probably be located via Jason Box's ice and climate blog "Meltfactor".
