Module VII

Essential Question: How is Earth's climate connected to its geological, biological and cultural systems?

Explain~
Diving into this module for me is a lot like watching a Star Trek episode. Things that are light years away and being monitored by liquid nitrogen cooled telescopes are situations that should be handled by Captain Kirk. I wonder what he would have done about a planet that was burning too many fossil fuels?

The TD video Changing Arctic Landscape tells us that the Arctic is the front line example of the changing climate. It explores the fact that the melting permafrost is drastically changing the landscape there. This transformation of the frozen ground is changing ground water levels and releasing gases into the atmosphere. The effects of the changes in the Arctic will be felt around the world.

Cordova, Alaska - from the air


Extend~
As I read through and listened to the information presented in this module it made think of an experience that my husband and I had when we lived in Cordova. It was a sort of community event to go out onto the frozen lake and break gas bubbles. For this outing you needed a pic axe and a lighter. We would find large circles of white smokey looking spots and hit them with the point of the axe. Then there would be a pop and a hissing sound and the gas that was released could be lit. The spots would burn for 5 to 20 seconds and they would be anywhere from two to eight feet tall. As the evening got darker you could see bursts of flames around the lake. In a small town, for a couple of newly weds it was an exciting Friday night! I wondered if the gas under the ice in Cordova could be explained by any of our resources in this module. That question led me to an article in the Los Angeles Times called Bubbles of warming, beneath the ice.
Here is an excerpt from the article:

"Methane (CH4) has at least 20 times the heat-trapping effect of an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide (CO2). As warmer air thaws Arctic soils, as much as 55 billion tons of methane could be released from beneath Siberian lakes alone, according to Walter's research. That would amount to 10 times the amount currently in the atmosphere."

"Nowhere is the evidence of a heating planet more dramatic than in the polar regions. Over the last 50 years, the Arctic has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the globe. Last summer, for the first time in recorded history, the North Pole could be circumnavigated. Ice sheets on Greenland and West Antarctica are melting rapidly. Polar bears and emperor penguins are threatened with extinction.

Even as glaciers and sea ice have captured the most headlines, growing concern is now focused on the transformation of permafrost, soils that are frozen year-round."

Lighting the methane bubbles was entertaining, and also an example of how and why our Earth's climate is changing!



Evaluate~
Never before have I laughed out loud while learning information about the periodic table. I have not seen more expression and intense joy when sharing a scientific experience than was present in the TD video The Elements: Forged in Stars . Laughter and seeing people who are informed and excited about science is inspirational! That is why wonderful resources like TD, Google Earth, and YouTube are so valuable. They show information in an interesting way, using the technology that students utilize every day. One of the most clearly stated videos in this module is Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect , it gives simple and direct reasons why our temperature is rising. It also hints as to what we can do about it. It is important to talk to our students about what they can do to be a positive part of understanding our global changes. If a twelve year old girl can ignite an idea, Capturing Carbon to use part of a fish tank to process air like a tree, we might be one student idea away from helping our planet! I think Captain Kirk would agree.

Photo Credits:
Star Trek, Bing.com
Cordova, Linden O'Toole
Idea Figure, Bing.com