The Arctic-Arc: Interactive Question 2: polar sciences
Drill head and ice core - Copyright: Jean-Louis Tison
© International Polar Foundation
Polar sciences have largely contributed to our understanding of Earth's climate system and climate change. For example, the ice cores extracted from Greenland and Antarctica constitute the archives of our past climate. By analysing these, scientists have come to the conclusion that our climate is currently changing at a higher rate and magnitude than ever before.
Scientists often collaborate with polar explorers and ask them to undertake some experiments. For example, the European Space Agency (ESA) asked Alain and Dixie to measure snow depth in order to confirm the results taken from space by satellites. This will help validate the algorithms which will be used by their new satellite: Cryosat 2.
Whether you're kids, teachers, entire classes or just interested adults, you're all invited to offer your opinion. An expert will publish his own opinion on this page in a few weeks.
Question: Which scientific experiments would you choose to conduct if your school were moved to a polar region?
