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Impact of Polar Climate Change on Living Systems
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The IPY/NSTA Symposium: Impact of Polar Climate Change on Living Systems took place at the America's Center in St. Louis, MO,
on Thursday, March 29, 2007. Fifty-six educators were in attendance, representing the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. One participant attended from Canada and another from the Netherlands.
The team of presenters included Dr. Jacqueline Grebmeier, Research Professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Dr. R.
Max Holmes, Associate Scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts, Betty Carvellas, Teacher and Science
Department Co-chair at Essex High School in Vermont, and Amy Clapp, Science Teacher at Salisbury Community School also in
Vermont. NSTA would like to thank all the participants and the presenters for a job well done!
The program started with an introductory administrative session during which Flavio Mendez, NSTA Symposia and Web Seminars
Program Manager, familiarized participants with the contents of their folders, including the agenda, the talent release form,
the pre-assessment form, and the session's learning outcomes. Mendez also talked about the follow-up opportunities to learn
more about the International Polar Year available online and at the conference.
Dr. Holmes followed Mendez's presentation with an overview about climate change and how it is impacting life in the Arctic
regions. Using photos he had taken during his expeditions to the poles, he described ways that climate change is affecting
the lives of people living there. One of his examples was about the weakening of the infrastructure, like buildings and roads.
The permafrost that serves as the foundation for structures is melting due to the higher temperatures. Buildings and roads are
sinking and/or breaking apart. Dr. Holmes' second presentation was about the movement of organic carbon from land to ocean in
the Arctic. He explained that as glaciers recede they unveil years of organic carbon to the environment. He gave examples of
modern organic carbon and described it as anything alive like trees, animals, and people, organic carbon that is thousands of
years old, like a wooly mammoth and organic carbon that is millions of years old, like fossil fuels.
Amy Clapp followed Dr. Holmes' presentation with an activity about albedo. As Dr. Holmes explained, due to the melting of the
permafrost and glaciers, areas that used to be covered with ice and snow are now covered with dirt and rock. The changes in the
amount of sunlight that can be absorbed versus the amount of sunlight that can be reflected, lowers the value of the region's
(and the planet's) albedo. A lower value of albedo can result in higher temperatures. For the activity, participants used a lamp
(representing the Sun), two thermometers, and two images of different albedo values, to simulate what's occurring in the Arctic
regions and to demonstrate the different rates of temperature changes over time.
After a short break, Dr. Grebmeier began the second part of the symposium with a presentation about Arctic marine food webs.
Changes in temperatures in the Arctic regions are affecting the marine food webs in different ways. Dr. Grebmeier mentioned
several examples and their effects. The shrinking of sea ice cover, for example, is affecting the ability of polar bears to
travel and hunt. On the other hand, more open water is allowing phytoplankton to produce more food by photosynthesis. Another
example is the warming of sea water and how it is causing zooplankton to grow faster and to eat more food resulting in less
food to reach the ocean bottom to feed benthic animals. Dr. Grebmeier described three methods scientists are using to study
the Arctic marine ecosystems: ship-based studies, satellite observations, and computer modeling.
Betty Carvellas followed Dr. Grebmeier's presentation with an activity for the classroom where participants had to use the
information provided by Dr. Grebmeier to create Arctic marine food webs. Working in teams, participants had to come up with
potential environmental changes (i.e., shrinking of sea ice cover) and describe how this would affect their food webs. Some
of the groups created a mobile of their marine food webs using clothes hangers and shared them with the larger group.
Dr. Grebmeier made the last presentation of the day. She talked about the International Polar Year, (IPY), events and the work
that scientists and educators are doing to increase our knowledge of the Arctic regions of the world. Dr. Grebmeier also shared
several URLs with the participants where they can go to learn more about the IPY. The main URL for IPY in the USA is:
http://www.us-ipy.gov. Another URL of interest is: http://www.ipy.org.
Want to learn more about this symposium? Check out the photo gallery, browse the program's agenda, and read the presenters'
biographical sketches.
For more information contact symposia@nsta.org
Underwritten in part by NSF, NASA, and NOAA.
