Polar-Related Activities at AGU 2015
We are looking forward to seeing PolarTREC participants and other polar educators at the American Geophysical Union Meeting 14-18 December 2015 in San Francisco, California. For more general meeting information visit the official conference website at: AGU Meeting 2015. Here we have compiled a listing of polar-related activities, events, and presentations as well as presentations by PolarTREC participants in other disciplines. PolarTREC teacher's names are linked to their expedition so you can catch up on their experiences. Let us know if there are other polar presentations to be listed by contacting Sarah Bartholow <sbartholow [at] arcus.org>.
If you want to hear PolarTREC researchers speak about their work, please visit the AGU Fall Meeting "Scientific Program" and search for their names. This page is an extensive list of PolarTREC teachers and researchers giving education-based presentations. At the very bottom, there is a list of PolarTREC researchers to seek out via the scientific program for more science presentations. There are hundreds!
We hope to see you there. Stay in contact with us on the PolarTREC Facebook Page for alumni and @PolarTREC on Twitter.
Enjoy your conference!
The PolarTREC Team
Polar Presentations - Sunday 12/13
Exploration Station Public Science Event
Sunday, December 13, 2015, 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM, Moscone South Room 103-104
Organizers: Sarah Bartholow, John Wood, Regina Brinker
Bring your friends and family and do hands-on science with AGU scientists! Exploration Station is a program of activities that gives AGU members who are education/outreach professionals a chance to interact with the public in San Francisco. This event is 4 hours long, free, and open to the public. Participants make their way through about 30 exhibits offering a variety of easy, family friendly, hands-on activities, and have an opportunity to interact one-on-one with scientists, engineers, and education specialists. For more information, go to the Exploration Station website.
Polar Presentations - Monday 12/14
GC11G-1100 The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS): Connecting Arctic Research
8:00am -12:20pm, Moscone South- Poster Hall
Presenter: ARCUS Executive Director Bob Rich
This presentation will highlight the recent activities of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) to connect Arctic research. ARCUS is a nonprofit membership organization of universities and institutions that have a substantial commitment to research in the Arctic.
ED11A: Educator Professional Development and Student Programs Promoting Authentic Scientific Research I
8:00am -12:20pm, Moscone South- Poster Hall
ED 13B-0894 #ClimateEdCommunity: Field Workshops Bring Together Teachers and Researchers to Make Meaning of Science and Classroom Integration
1:40pm - 6:00pm, Moscone South- Poster Hall
Presenter: Sarah Bartholow
Seeing Understanding and Teaching: Climate Change in Denali is a four‐day immersive teacher professional development course held in Denali National Park. Developed through three partner organizations, the course aims to develop teachers' skills for integrating climate change content into their classrooms. This presentation aims to share tangible best practices for linking researchers and teachers in the field, through four years of experience in program delivery and reported through a published external evaluation.
ED13C-0899: INCREASING CLIMATE LITERACY IN INTRODUCTORY OCEANOGRAPHY CLASSES USING OCEAN OBSERVATION DATA FROM PROJECT DYNAMO
1:40pm - 6:00pm, Moscone South- Poster Hall
Presenter: Jacqueline Hams
This session will present educational activities developed for an introductory Oceanography lecture and laboratory class by NOAA Teacher-at-Sea Jacquelyn Hams following participation in Leg 3 of Project DYNAMO (Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation) in November-December 2011.
ED13B-0891: From the field to the classroom: Connecting climate research to classroom lessons
1:40pm - 6:00pm, Moscone South- Poster Hall
Presenters: Regina Brinker, Susan Steiner, Lucy Coleman
In this presentation, secondary level educators, will share their experiences with being part of field research teams in the Arctic and Antarctica, and their strategies for bringing current science research into the classroom and aligning lessons with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
GC13K-08: Permafrost Thaw, Soil Moisture and Plant Community Change Alter Organic Matter Decomposition in Alaskan Tundra
3:25pm - 3:40pm, Moscone West - 3003
Presenters: Maurgerite Mauritz, Sue Natali
Climate warming in arctic tundra has been associated with increased plant productivity and a shift in plant community composition, specifically an increase in shrub cover, which can impact soil organic matter through changes in the size and composition of the leaf litter pool. The results demonstrate the importance of interactions among temperature, moisture and vegetation changes on organic matter decomposition, and the potential for increased plant productivity and vegetation changes to alter the size and composition of the soil organic matter pool.
ED14A: Educator Professional Development and Student Programs Promoting Authentic Scientific Research II
4:00pm - 6:00pm Oral Sessions
Moscone South- 310
Polar Presentations - Tuesday 12/15
NSF Division of Polar Programs Town Hall
12:30pm -1:30pm
Moscone West- 2005
Cryosphere Sciences Reception
6:30pm - 8:00pm, SF Marriott Marquis- Salon 8
This is a ticketed event.
Polar Presentations - Wednesday 12/16
Polar Presentations - Thursday 12/17
C41D-0726 Characterizing Microbial Mat Morphology with Structure from Motion Techniques in Ice-Covered Lake Joyce, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
8:00am - 12:20pm, Moscone South - Poster Hall
Presenters: Tyler Mackey, Dawn Sumner, Megan Krusor, Lucy Coleman
Structure from Motion (SFM) techniques can provide quantitative morphological documentation of otherwise inaccessible benthic ecosystems such as microbial mats in Lake Joyce, a perennially ice-covered lake of the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV). Microbial mats are a key ecosystem of MDV lakes, and diverse mat morphologies like pinnacles emerge from interactions among microbial behavior, mineralization, and environmental conditions.
B43M-05 Seasonal variation of ecosystem respiration delta 13C in response to experimental permafrost thaw and vegetation removal in moist acidic tundra.
2:40pm - 2:55pm, Moscone West - 2004
Presenters: Maurgerite Mauritz, Sue Natali
Permafrost soils store twice as much carbon (C) as is contained in the atmosphere and about one-third of global soil C. Under a warmer future climate, permafrost is expected to thaw and decompose, releasing C to the atmosphere, further amplifying global warming. However, studies show that warmer arctic temperatures promote plant growth, in addition to stimulating losses from the soil C pool. Using delta 13C of ecosystem respiration (Reco) during the seasonal cycle of active layer thaw, we seek to understand the effect of permafrost thaw on the relative contributions from microbial decomposition of soil C and more recently fixed, plant-dominated C.
Polar Presentations - Friday 12/18
ED51C-0825: Exploring Patterns of Soil Organic Matter Decomposition with Students through the Global Decomposition Project (GDP) and the Interactive Model of Leaf Decomposition (IMOLD)
8:00am - 12:20pm, Moscone South - Poster Hall
Presenters: Susan Steiner, John Wood
As decomposition rates are affected by climate change, understanding crucial soil interactions that affect plant growth and decomposition becomes a vital part of contributing to the students’ knowledge base. The Global Decomposition Project (GDP) is designed to introduce and educate students about soil organic matter and decomposition through a standardized protocol for collecting, reporting, and sharing data. The Interactive Model of Leaf Decomposition (IMOLD) utilizes animations and modeling to learn about the carbon cycle, leaf anatomy, and the role of microbes in decomposition. Paired together, IMOLD teaches the background information and allows simulation of numerous scenarios, and the GDP is a data collection protocol that allows students to gather usable measurements of decomposition in the field.
C53B-0783: NASA IceBridge and PolarTREC - Education and Outreach Partnership
1:40pm - 6:00pm, Moscone South - Poster Hall
PolarTREC–Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating, a teacher professional development program, began with the International Polar Year in 2004 and continues today in the United States. PolarTREC has worked specifically with OIB for 3 years and looking forward to ongoing collaboration.