Physical Science Collection

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution offers a comprehensive comparison of the polar regions with sections specific to physical features, seasons, weather, ice, plants and wildlife, human impacts, global warming, and science.

From NASA, in this animation, the Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change progress through time, from September 1, 2009 when sea ice in the Arctic was near its minimum extent, through March 30, 2010. The animation plays at a rate of six frames per day or ten days per second.

The Bridge is a growing collection of the best marine education resources available on-line. It provides educators with a convenient source of accurate and useful information on global, national, and regional marine science topics, and gives researchers a contact point for educational outreach. The Bridge is supported by the National Sea Grant Office, the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), and

This lecture introduces physical oceanography, the study of the physics of the world ocean.

This lecture discusses factors that affect seawater density, a most important quantity with implications for ocean circulation and productivity.

Ever wonder why ice cubes float? I can tell you why ice floats in two words. Archimedes' Principle. Of course, Archimedes' Principle takes a bit more explaining. Let's make sense of it with science! This has been presented by Bayer Corporation's national education program, Making Science Make Sense.

This lecture discusses the seasonal cycle of the physics of the upper ocean at tropical, temperate, and polar latitudes.

This YouTube video lecture discusses the seasonal stratification and destratification of the world ocean, in other words, the formation of the seasonal thermocline!

A collection of eight videos focusing on the topic of climate change in the Arctic.

Videos are from the 2007 ARCSS Synthesis Workshop, the 2007 Arctic Forum, and the 2008 Arctic Forum.

Private PolarConnect Event held between PolarTREC Teacher Jim Miller, researcher Elliot Friedman, and Jim's class in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Jim and Elliot are working in Barrow, Alaska.

PolarConnect event with John Wood and Dr. Sue Natali participating in the Carbon Balance in Warming and Drying Tundra expedition in Healy Alaska. There were some technical difficulties in the archive, so you can access Part 1 of the archive here and Part 2 of the archive is here.

NASA video depicting "Draining the Ocean"

Salinity plays a major role in how ocean waters circulate around the globe. Salinity changes can create ocean circulation changes that, in turn, may impact regional and global climates. The extent to which salinity impacts our global ocean circulation is still relatively unknown, but NASA's new Aquarius mission will help advance that understanding by painting a global picture of our

The Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ACMP) provides curriculum-based arctic resources for use with K-12 students. Resources include inquiry-based classroom lessons, a student network for observing arctic weather (S.N.O.W.) , digital lectures, and an interactive multimedia learning system (on DVD). The resources presented were all designed with input from 21 scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.

Through activities, video observation, experimentation and the construction of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) students will learn about the chemical and physical properties of sea ice.

Objectives

Students will be able to answer main questions of where sea ice is, how it is formed, why the ice is important, how it is classified by indigenous people and scientists, how

Overview

This activity allows students to participate in a physically interactive dramatization of the oceanic biological pump.

Objective

The purpose of this activity is to develop a conceptual understanding of how the biological pump moves carbon through the oceans.

Preparation

Background Information: The Carbon cycle is a biochemical cycle that transfers carbon between short and long-lived reservoirs

Overview

This lesson answers the question: How does ice floating on the ocean act as it melts?

Objective

* Students will learn about temperature, salinity and their effect on density. * Students will learn that ocean currents are caused by differences in densities as a result of temperature and salinity. These differences allow ocean currents to circulate water

Overview

In this activity, students diagram the carbon cycle. A lot of the concepts presented here are necessary in order to fully understand the greenhouse effect and global warming. This lesson is presented as an activity to do before embarking on a study of the greenhouse effect and global warming.

Objective

1. Students understand that the total amount

Overview

Students are presented with an actual series of tundra photos, which they use to develop a hypothesis for which sort of ground cover will have the most/least permafrost depth. Then they are given a set of actual data and use this to test their hypothesis

Objective

Students will: * understand what permafrost is and how it develops

Overview

The study of rock and sediment layers, or stratigraphy, can be used to introduce students to the fundamental principles of geology and to lead into the idea of geologic time. In this lesson, students are introduced to Nicolas Steno's 3 major laws of stratigraphy: the law of original horizontality, the law of superposition and the law of lateral

Teacher's Domain is an online educational service with two related components — Collections and Courses — that help teachers enhance their students' learning experiences and advance their own teaching skills. This collection was built to celebrate the International Polar Year. Learn about the importance of studying the poles through these media resources, adapted from a variety of sources.