“LDEO Contributions to the IPY (International Polar Year), part 1: Exploring Polar Regions with Geophysical Tools” with Michael Studinger (Nov 2007)

by | Jul 27, 2023 | Polar Research, Uncategorized

Originally presented 10 Nov 2007

Where Is He Now? http://www.polartrec.com/member/michael-studinger

The Earth2Class Workshops this Fall featured two special themes: the “IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program) ‘School of Rock’ Workshops” and the “Lamont Contributions to the IPY (International Polar Year)”.

The November and December E2C Workshops featured research contributions by LDEO scientists to the 2007 – 2008 International Polar Year. In this Workshop, Michael Studinger, who has previously discussed his Lake Vostok and other research in Antarctica with us, will describe some of the LDEO research conducted in conjunction with the IPY. He will particularly share some of his recent geophysical explorations of both the Arctic and Antarctic.

Here are links to Michael’s previous E2C Workshop talks:

http://www.earth2class.org/k12/w4_f2006/index.php

http://www.earth2class.org/k12/w6_s2006/w6_s2006.php

http://www.earth2class.org/k12/w8_s2005/index.php

http://www.earth2class.org/k12/w3_f2003/index.htm 

LDEO scientists, including Michael Studinger and Michael Passow, participated in the “New York City International Polar Weekend” at the American Museum of Natural History in March 2007 that marked the official start of the IPY. For selected images, see the “Multimedia” section.

Click here for information about the 2nd NYC International Polar Year Weekend at the American Museum of Natural History, February 2008.

Introduction to this Workshop

To view the introductory slide show for this workshop, click
here for the ppt format, or
here for the pdf format

Cutting-Edge Research

Geophysical Explorations of the Arctic and Antarctic
Dr. Michael Studinger

Michael’s research links solid Earth geophysics and glaciology, providing unique research opportunities. He uses integrated sets of aerogeophysical data, including gravity, magnetics, ice-penetrating radar, and laser altimeter measurements, to study physical processes linking tectonics, ice sheet dynamics and life in extreme environments, such as subglacial lakes.

This means, Michael has greatly enjoyed traveling to the ends of the Earth to take part in new discoveries in extreme conditions. We’ve enjoyed hearing in previous E2C Workshops from him about how he and colleagues live and conduct research where temperatures are -40o or lower and gale winds blow. You can find out more from Michael’s Homepage.

Michael has posted a set of images from recent Greenland remote sensing from airplanes on his website.

In addition to his previous E2C Workshops, Michael’s educational outreach included  participation in the New York City International Polar Weekend 2007 and 2008 at the American Museum of Natural History.

Michael earned his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and University of Bremen, 1998. He also holds a Masters in Geophysics (Diplom Geophysiker) from Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, 1993. He originally came to LDEO as a Post-Doctoral Research Scientist in 1998, and has been a Doherty Associate Research Scientists since 2000.

Information about other LDEO Antarctic research projects is available at http://www.earth.columbia.edu/eidirectory/displaylocsimple.php?locationid=3

Classroom Resources

WebQuest: Glaciers” by Jean McMahan (Valley Central HS)

“INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR (IPY) 2007 – 2008”
Home: http://www.ipy.org/
About: http://www.ipy.org/about/what-is-ipy.htm
History of IPY: http://www.ipy.org/development/history.htm
Links to IPY sponsors and other polar organizations: http://www.ipy.org/links/
‘Educators’ Icy IPY Activities’: http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/ipy_2007_2008_school_launch_event/

“Students on Ice”: http://www.studentsonice.com/

“Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic”
TEA ARMADA PROJECT:
http://tea.armadaproject.org/index.html
Meet the Teachers:
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_meetteachers.html
TEA Classroom Activities:
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_classroommaterials.html

Bridging the Poles: Education Linked with Research (pdf available)
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/polar_workshop/

ANDRILL ARISE (Antarctic Research Immersion for Science Educators):
http://www.andrill.org/education
ANDRILL PORJECT ICEBERG: http://www.andrill.org/iceberg/index.html

“Inspire Antarctic Expeditions” — Robert Swan, OBE, 2041
http://www.2041.com/expeditions/IAE.html
Educational Resources — coming soon

“Polar Remote Sensing: A Resource for Undergraduate Education” — Anupma Prakash
http://www.polar-remotesensing.alaska.edu/authors.html

“Whither Arctic Ice? A Chapter in the Earth Exploration Toolkit”
http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/seaice/index.html

NASA Quest: Putting Antarctica On the Map

National Geographic Xpeditions: “To the Ends of the Earth: Research in Polar Seas” http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/01/g68/earth.html

Gulf of Maine Aquarium Antarctica lesson
http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/antarctica/index.html

IF YOU KNOW OF OTHER LINKS THAT SHOULD BE ADDED TO THESE, PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL TO michael@earth2class.org

Other Resources for This Topic

Mystery Novel set in Antarctica:
Sarah Andrews In Cold Pursuit 
St. Martin’s Press. 
Hardback ISBN 0312342535; Paperback ISBN 0312342535

Sarah Andrews is well known for her popular mystery series featuring forensic geologist Em Hansen.
With In Cold Pursuit, she builds on that foundation and introduces a new lead character in this compelling mystery from the last continent.Valena Walker is a dedicated master’s student in geology headed to Antarctica to study glaciology with the venerable Dr. Emmett Vanderzee. Being on the ice is something she’s dreamed about since she was a little girl. But when she finally arrives at McMurdo, she discovers that her professor has been arrested for murder, and what’s more, that the incident happened a year ago. A newspaper reporter who’d visited Antarctica the previous winter had died from exposure, and though no one was a fan of the guy—he was attempting to contradict Vanderzee’s research—by all accounts, everyone was devastated to lose someone on the ice.

Valena quickly realizes that in order to avoid being shipped north immediately and having her grant canceled, she must embrace the role of detective and work to clear his name—and save herself in the process. Sarah Andrews received a prestigious grant from the National Science Foundation to spend two months on Antarctica to research In Cold Pursuit, and the authenticity of her portrait of this unforgiving land is breathtaking, making for her most compelling novel to date.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/sarah-andrews/in-cold-pursuit.htm

West Antarctica Ice Sheet Airborne Gravimetry:
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/WAIS/

“INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR (IPY) 2007 – 2008”
Home: http://www.ipy.org/
About: http://www.ipy.org/about/what-is-ipy.htm
History of IPY: http://www.ipy.org/development/history.htm
Links to IPY sponsors and other polar organizations: http://www.ipy.org/links/

Teachers’ Domain Polar Sciences Collection: http://www.teachersdomain.org/exhibits/ipy07-ex/index.html

“Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic”

TEA ARMADA PROJECT:
http://tea.armadaproject.org/index.html
Meet the Teachers:
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_meetteachers.html
TEA Classroom Activities:
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_classroommaterials.html
TEA Polar Links:
http://tea.armadaproject.org/tea_sites_antarcticresearch.html

“A Tour of the Cryosphere: The Earth’s Frozen Assets”
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/cryosphere.html

8-minute DVD/web multimedia program about the polar regions, with amazing imagery; close-captions available.Robert Swan’s Leadership on the Edge 2041
http://www.2041.com/
Inspire Antarctic Expeditions:
http://www.2041.com/expeditions/IAE.htmlNASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Antarctica: Lake Vostok

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Cryosphere Sciences Branch
http://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/csb/
The Cryospheric Sciences Branch is a branch of the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The mission of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch (CSB) is to increase our understanding of the ice cover.

NASA’s ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite)
http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
ICESat (Ice, Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite) is the benchmark Earth Observing System mission for measuring ice
sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics.

National Snow and Ice Data Center
http://www.nsidc.com/
Established by NOAA as a national information and referral
center in support of polar and cryospheric research, NSIDC archives
and distributes digital and analog snow and ice data.

“The Crysophere: Where the World Is Frozen”
http://www.nsidc.com/cryosphere/

NOAA Marine Modeling and Analysis Branch (MMAB) Sea Ice
http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/seaice/
The Polar and Great Lakes Ice group works on sea ice analysis
from satellite, sea ice modeling, and ice-atmosphere-ocean coupling.

USGS IPY Resources
http://international.usgs.gov/ipy/default.shtml

“Snowball Earth”:
Some 600 – 700 million years ago, according to some data, much of
Earth was covered by ice. Here are selected links to online resources about this theory:

http://www.snowballearth.org/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/snowballearth.shtml

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=149

http://www.eps.harvard.edu/people/faculty/hoffman/snowball_paper.html

“Polar Oral History Program”
http://library.osu.edu/sites/archives/polar/oralhist/oralmain.php

“Polar Remote Sensing” — Anupma Prakash and Rudi Gens, UAF
http://www.polar-remotesensing.alaska.edu/index.html

Integrating Educational Technologies

General suggestions: Integrating Educational Technologies into Your Classroom

Animations have become widely available on website in recent years. Several of the sites used in creating today’s introductory slide show provided animations. Three examples include:

IPY Educapoles “Sea Ice and Icebergs”
http://www.educapoles.org/index.php?/fun_zone/pictures_galleries/sea_ice_and_icebergs/&s=7&rs=14&uid=352&lg=en

NASA Terra ASTER
http://terra.nasa.gov/About/ASTER/index.php

Robin Bell, Michael Studinger, and other’s Lake Vostok
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/vostok/vostok.swf

Your assignment:

1) What characteristics make a web animation effective as a classroom teaching tool?

2) When should animations be used for full-class instruction, and when should they be used for small groups or individual projects?

3) Describe strategies to locate suitable animations for your classes.

and

4) Design a lesson plan that incorporates at least one animation.

E2C Follow-up:

You may send your model lesson and other responses to this “assignment” to michael@earth2class.org. If suitable, we will post your work in the E2C lesson plans and/or add them to this section of the Workshop website.

Multimedia

Images from this Workshop

Images from the New York City International Polar Weekend at the American Museum of Natural History, March 2007.  (Images by Doug Brusa, LDEO)

Here are some examples of website animations pertinent to the theme of this workshop:

September Monthly Sea Ice Concentration for 1979 – 1988
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a001000/a001072/index.html 

IPY Educapoles “Sea Ice and Icebergs”
http://www.educapoles.org/index.php?/fun_zone/pictures_galleries/sea_ice_and_icebergs/&s=7&rs=14&uid=352&lg=en

NASA Terra ASTER
http://terra.nasa.gov/About/ASTER/index.php

Robin Bell, Michael Studinger, and other’s Lake Vostok
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/vostok/vostok.swf

Sea Ice & CO2 Levels:
http://www.vets.ucar.edu/vg/seaice/index.shtml

Images of a polar day (from an ESPRIT list-server suggestion by David L. Smith)