This toolkit is designed to support geography teaching from upper primary to college
(UK: GCSE and A Level).
The Ice Recording Template is the core item in this toolkit and enables families
and students to plot predicted and actual ice-depth using live or recorded data
from the expedition. Click here to view that
data.
Scientists use super computers to predict the thickness of the ice, using weather
data that shows how much heat is being taken away or taken to the ice from the air
and water currents.
There are lots of variables: the accuracy of the weather data usually has some uncertainty,
and the rules the scientists use to programme their supercomputers don’t exactly
match the factors that affect ice melting. That’s because the influences contributing
to the rate of melting are very complicated, for example snow cover insulates the
ice and prevents it building up in the winter, and the salinity of the ice affects
how easily it melts.
This means that the results produced by the supercomputers predicting ice thickness
are as accurate an approximation as scientifically possible. The scientists and
the Catlin Arctic Survey hope that, by comparing those results to actual measured
ice thickness from Catlin Arctic Survey, the accuracy of the current supercomputer
models can be enhanced and therefore assist in our understanding of how fast the
ice is thinning.
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