Sea Ice Extension for the Earth as a System Learning Activity

Gary Randolph, GLOBE Program, Walt Meier, National Snow and Ice Data Center, SERC On The Cutting Edge Collection

The purpose of this activity is to identify global patterns and connections in environmental data contained in the GLOBE Earth Systems Poster, to connect observations made within the Earth Systems Poster to data and information at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and to understand the connections between solar energy and changes at the poles, including feedback related to albedo.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

Most of the activity is written in the assignment file Activity focuses on 2007 sea ice minimum, so teacher will need to update activity with data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center [http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/] or other sources. Requires a substantial amount of teacher preparation to ensure students don't get lost in the material. Install required software on school computers prior to doing activity to save time.
Data-rich activity that pulls from a number of different sources. Will need good preparation to ensure students don't get lost in materials. This activity combines two other activities that have also been reviewed for the CLEAN collection and provides an extension to those activities. Data in activity is for 2007, but concepts still apply as do skills developed by activity; data sources links provided so instructor could easily update the activity to current data. Comments from expert scientist: Conveys how solar energy varies with latitude and by season, shows albedo affects how much solar energy gets absorbed. Uses sea ice as an example to show changes in the surface can dramatically change the amount of absorbed energy. Resource based on assumption of a cloud-free environment.