For the layperson, trying to understand the essence of climate change research can be exasperating — particularly when it comes to the potential impact of global warming on the Antarctic. On the one hand it is reported that the Antarctic Peninsula, which extends north toward Chile, is warming; that a massive ice shelf the size of Delaware broke off from the Larsen B peninsula in 2002, a collapse that scientists say was of a scale unprecedented in the last 12,000 years; and that significant Antarctic ice melting could result in a perhaps disastrous rise in sea levels. On the other hand research indicates that, over the last thirty-five years, the Antarctic as a whole has cooled, and that the levels of sea ice are actually increasing.

Such ostensible contradictions have been used to suggest that global warming is, in fact, not happening. Yet part of the confusion is due to the lack of a broader context that can only come from more research. According to the results of a 2004 study by NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space and Studies (GISS), the recent cooling trend is an effect of the depletion in the ozone layer over Antarctica. “In the coming decades, ozone levels are expected to recover due to international treaties that banned ozone-depleting chemicals,” states a NASA press release. Once it does, Antarctica’s cooling trend is likely to rapidly reverse. The increase in sea ice levels, meanwhile, is also the result of global warming. A 2005 satellite study funded by NASA suggests that warming of the climate has led to an increase in precipitation rates and deeper snow in the Southern Ocean, which becomes so heavy that it pushes Antarctic ice below sea level, resulting in more and thicker ice.

There is still a lot of uncertainty about what could happen to Antarctica, and this sense of doubt — about the climate in general — has been used by politicians on both the left and the right to bolster their respective positions. President George W. Bush, for instance, has declined to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, “given the incomplete state of scientific knowledge of the causes of, and solutions to, global climate change.” And in 2006, former Vice President Al Gore returned to the public eye when An Inconvenient Truth, a successful documentary film based on Gore’s lecture series about climate change, raised concerns that an immediate response to global warming was required to prevent catastrophe.

Perhaps the best a concerned nature-lover can do is turn to an outside body. According to a 2001 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an assessment panel established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a few things, at least, seem clear:

• The Earth’s climate system has demonstrably changed on both global and regional scales since the pre-industrial era, with some of these changes attributable to human activities.
• Emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols due to human activities continue to alter the atmosphere in ways that are expected to affect the climate.
• More hot days and heat waves and fewer cold and frost days are very likely over nearly all land areas.
• The projected rate and magnitude of warming and sea-level rise can be lessened by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As night falls in Antarctica, biting winds cast horizontal snow across the dark backs of a mass of huddled emperor penguins. The temperature is 50 below zero, the gales are 90 miles per hour, and the sun won’t rise again for more than two months. NATURE captures these amazing — and well-dressed — flightless birds shivering on the ice as well as gliding through their most comfortable element, the water — a balmy bath compared to the air temperature above — where the emperors can hold their breath up to 20 minutes and dive a mile deep. Meanwhile, on the shores of Zavodovski Island, an active volcano, two million chinstrap penguins breed and travel on their own “superhighway” between the sea and their colonies on higher ground — taking care to evade the occasional 12-foot long leopard seal, which can consume six penguins in an hour.

Emperors and kings, chinstraps and Adélies — NATURE follows the penguins’ difficult journey through the cycle of seasons and explores how a changing climate is affecting their habitat and survival.

Online, our interactive penguin map will take you around the Antarctic region for a closer look at six penguin species and their habitats. An essay will help reveal why krill is both the penguins’ favorite food, and the foundation of the Antarctic ecosystem. Also, read more about the issues related to climate change and its potential impact on Antarctica. Finally, watch our penguin Photo Essay, and then test your understanding of the penguin’s cold-weather adaptations in the Penguin Secrets of Survival Challenge. Buy the DVD. Online content for Penguins of the Antarctic was originally posted November 2006.

Antarctica. On the surface, it’s the bleakest of lands, with ferocious winds, flightless birds, and enough ice to flood half the planet’s population if it were to melt. But below that frozen mass, a fantastic environment of indescribable beauty teems with life. NATURE takes viewers into the world that is Under Antarctic Ice. Buy the DVD. This film premiered January 12, 2003.

PENGUINS OF THE ANTARCTIC

Narrated By
WILL PATTON

Producers
MARK FLETCHER
ROGER WEBB

Photography
JOHN & MARY-LOU AITCHISON
DOUG ALLAN
STEPHEN DE VERE
SIMON KING
HUGH MAYNARD
MICHAEL W. RICHARDS

Edited By
MARK FLETCHER

Music By
JENNIE MUSKETT

Dubbing Editor
TIM OWENS

Dubbing Mixer
BEN PEACE

Writer
DAVID HELTON

Production Coordinator
ALISON SUKER

Production Manager
SALLY MARK

The BBC Wishes to Thank
BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY
MICHAEL P. MEREDITH
RICHARD PHILLIPS
DOMINIC HODGSON
JOHN CROXALL
PHIL TRATHAN
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
HT HARVEY & ASSOCIATES
DAVID AINLEY
BEN OSBORNE

Series Editor
TIM MARTIN

© 2006 BBC All Rights Reserved

For NATURE

Series Editor
JANET HESS

Supervising Producer
JANICE YOUNG

Senior Producer
LAURA METZGER

Producer
JILL CLARKE

Associate Producer
IRENE TEJARATCHI

Production Assistant
RACHAEL TEEL

Manager
EILEEN FRAHER

Production Manager
JULIE SCHAPIRO THORMAN

Online Editor
BRUNO PELLEGRINI

Sound Mixer
ED CAMPBELL

Series Producer
BILL MURPHY

Executive In Charge
WILLIAM GRANT

Executive Producer
FRED KAUFMAN

A co-production of Thirteen/WNET New York and BBC

This program was produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, which is solely responsible for its content.

© 2006 Educational Broadcasting Corporation
Web Credits

Director of Production
DANIEL B. GREENBERG

Producer
TANNER VEA

Production Assistant
DANIEL ROSS

Writer
JOHN UHL

Designer
MICHAEL DIMAURO

Creative Director
NICK MILLER

Pagebuilding
BRIAN SANTALONE

Technical Director
BRIAN LEE

Photos for “Overview,” “For Educators,” and “Resources” © Ben Osborne. Photo for “Climate Change in the Antarctic” © Corel. Photo for “Krill: Cornerstone of the Antarctic” © MAR-ECO/Øystein Paulsen. Other images from “Penguins of the Antarctic.”

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York’s Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Dan Goldman, Executive Director, thirteen.org. Bob Adleman, Business Manager.

This site is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York.

© 1997-2008 The Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Cool Antarctica
http://www.coolantarctica.com/index.html
This site contains pictures, general information and a travel guide of Antarctica.

National Science Foundation: Arctic & Antarctic Research Overview
http://www.nsf.gov/news/overviews/arcticantarctic/index.jsp
Learn more about the research NSF is doing in the Antarctic. NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, which coordinates almost all U.S. science on the continent, including research carried out by other federal agencies.

National Science Foundation, Special Report: U.S. South Pole Station
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/livingsouthpole/index.jsp
Rich in multimedia, this special report explains all there is to know about the U.S. South Pole Station.

British Antarctic Survey
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/index.php
Read about what scientific research the British Antarctic Survey has done in and around the Antarctic continent.

Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
http://www.ccamlr.org/
The aim of the Convention is to conserve marine life of the Southern Ocean.

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Climate Resources
http://www.noaa.gov/climate.html
NOAA is a federal agency focused on the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere.

NOAA: Global Warming FAQs
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
Read the NOAA’s frequently asked questions about global warming.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
http://www.ipcc.ch/
The role of the IPCC is to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES)
http://www.c2es.org
Research on global warming, its causes and effects, greenhouse gas emissions trends, environmental impacts, and possible solutions.

Related Episodes

The World of Penguins

Antarctica: The End of the Earth

Under Antarctic Ice

Antarctica is a continent devoted to science. Penguins, the flightless birds that have adapted to living in the harsh conditions of the Antarctic, are of particular interest to researchers. In this lesson, students will research what scientists are studying on Antarctica and what they hope to gain from their research. They will also create a multi-media story about the challenges penguins face living in this harsh environment.

Grade Level: Grades 9-12

Subject Areas: Language Arts, Science

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to do the following:

• create a presentation that explains the role of research in Antarctica.
• synthesize information from a variety of sources.
• summarize an issue that is impacting wildlife in Antarctica.

Materials:

• Computers with Internet access
• The video of the episode “Penguins of the Antarctic” from Thirteen’s series NATURE
• “Researching the Researchers” organizer (PDF)
• “Inside the Margins of Possibility” story boarding template (PDF)

Bookmark the following sites:

• The Exploratorium’s website Antarctica: Scientific Journeys from Mc Murdo to the Pole
  http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/fieldnotes/index.html
  This website contains field notes from research scientists who are studying in Antarctica.
• Antarctic Connection: Why Scientists Love Antarctica
  http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/science/whyscience.shtml
  This website contains information on scientific research in Antarctica.
• Antarctica Online: Antarctic Science
  http://www.antarcticaonline.com/antarctica/science/science.htm#Anchor_OceanClimate
  This website contains information on scientific research in Antarctica.
• CBBC Newsround: Lizzie’s Diaries From Antarctica
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3299000/3299883.stm
  This website contains diary entries from Antarctica.
• Penguin Science
  http://www.penguinscience.com
  
• Palmer Station
  http://pal.lternet.edu/biblio/sitreps/2003/jan03
  This website contains a monthly report from the Palmer Research Station.
• National Science Foundation
  http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/antarct/ajus/nsf9828/9828html/m6.htm
  This website contains information on the effects of tourism on the reproductive success of Adélie penguins at the Palmer Station.
• National Public Radio
  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4142383
  This story discusses the decline in penguin food on Antarctica.
• World View of Global Warming: Antarctica: Ice Under Fire
  http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/antarctica.html
  This website contains information about global warming and Antarctica.
• TEA (Teachers experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic)
  http://tea.armadaproject.org/cowles/2.19.2002.html
  This website contains photographs and information about penguins.
• The Antarctic Sun
  http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/2005-2006/sctn02-12-2006.cfm
  This website contains online articles about events and research in Antarctica.

STANDARDS

www.mcrel.org

Language Arts

Writing

Standard 1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process

5. Uses strategies to address writing to different audiences (e.g., includes explanations and definitions according to the audience’s background, age, or knowledge of the topic, adjusts formality of style, considers interests of potential readers)

6. Uses strategies to adapt writing for different purposes (e.g., to explain, inform, analyze, entertain, reflect, persuade)

7. Writes expository compositions (e.g., synthesizes and organizes information from first- and second-hand sources, including books, magazines, computer data banks, and the community; uses a variety of techniques to develop the main idea [names, describes, or differentiates parts; compares or contrasts; examines the history of a subject; cites an anecdote to provide an example; illustrates through a scenario; provides interesting facts about the subject]; distinguishes relative importance of facts, data, and ideas; uses appropriate technical terms and notations)

Standard 2. Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing

1. Uses precise and descriptive language that clarifies and enhances ideas and supports different purposes (e.g., to stimulate the imagination of the reader, to translate concepts into simpler or more easily understood terms, to achieve a specific tone, to explain concepts in literature)

5. Uses a variety of techniques to provide supporting detail (e.g., analogies; anecdotes; restatements; paraphrases; examples; comparisons; visual aids, such as tables, graphs, and pictures)

Standard 4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes

1. Uses appropriate research methodology (e.g., formulates questions and refines topics, develops a plan for research; organizes what is known about a topic; uses appropriate research methods, such as questionnaires, experiments, field studies; collects information to narrow and develop a topic and support a thesis)

2. Uses a variety of print and electronic sources to gather information for research topics (e.g., news sources such as magazines, radio, television, newspapers; government publications; microfiche; telephone information services; databases; field studies; speeches; technical documents; periodicals; Internet)

Standard 7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts

1. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts (e.g., textbooks, biographical sketches, letters, diaries, directions, procedures, magazines, essays, primary source historical documents, editorials, news stories, periodicals, catalogs, job-related materials, schedules, speeches, memoranda, public documents, maps)

2. Knows the defining characteristics of a variety of informational texts (e.g., textbooks, biographical sketches, letters, diaries, directions, procedures, magazines, essays, primary source historical documents, editorials, news stories, periodicals, catalogs, job-related materials, schedules, speeches, memoranda, public documents, maps)

4. Uses a variety of criteria to evaluate the clarity and accuracy of information (e.g., author’s bias, use of persuasive strategies, consistency, clarity of purpose, effectiveness of organizational pattern, logic of arguments, reasoning, expertise of author, propaganda techniques, authenticity, appeal to friendly or hostile audience, faulty modes of persuasion)

Life Sciences

Standard 6. Understands relationships among organisms and their physical environment

1. Knows how the interrelationships and interdependencies among organisms generate stable ecosystems that fluctuate around a state of rough equilibrium for hundreds or thousands of years (e.g., growth of a population is held in check by environmental factors such as depletion of food or nesting sites, increased loss due to larger numbers of predators or parasites)

5. Knows ways in which humans can alter the equilibrium of ecosystems, causing potentially irreversible effects (e.g., human population growth, technology, and consumption; human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, and atmospheric changes

Procedures for Teachers

The purpose of this activity is to pique students’ interest and build background knowledge on Antarctica.

Introductory activity – 30 minutes

1. The Exploratorium’s website Antarctica: Scientific Journeys from Mc Murdo to the Pole contains field notes from research scientists who are studying in Antarctica. Divide the students into small groups. Assign each group one of the journal entries on the Exploratorium website.
   http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/fieldnotes/index.html
2. Ask groups to read the entry and record the main details from the pieces. After all the groups have finished, have them share the information from the entry with the rest of the class.
3. Groups who finish early may check out the interactive map on the Exploratorium website that explains why petrified palm trees were found along the eastern coast of Antarctica.
   http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/ideas/gondwana2.html

Steps

Activity one – three class periods

The purpose of this activity is for students to learn about the importance of research in Antarctica.

1. Tell the students that they are going to pretend that they are research scientists in Antarctica. Explain that the funding for their research will be cut unless they can justify the importance of their research. Tell students that they will gather information on the research that is being conducted in Antarctica and prepare a presentation that explains what they are researching and why it is important for them to continue with their research.
2. Divide the class into seven groups and assign each group one of the topics below.
   • Climate change
   • Oceanography
   • Biology
   • Environmental issues
   • Greenhouse gasses and global warming
   • Marine life
   • Glaciology
3. Pass out the “Researching The Researchers” organizer. Explain to students that they will gather information on their assigned topic and create a presentation to explain and justify their research.The following is a list of Internet resources to help students begin their research:
   • Antarctic Connection Website
     http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/science/whyscience.shtmlWhy Scientists Love Antarctica
   • Antarctica Online
     http://www.antarcticaonline.com/antarctica/science/science.htm#Anchor_OceanClimate
     Antarctic Science
   • CBBC Newsround
     http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3299000/3299883.stm
     Lizzie’s Diaries From Antarctica
   • Penguin Science
     http://www.penguinscience.com/
   • Palmer Station
     http://pal.lternet.edu/biblio/sitreps/2003/jan03
     Monthly Report
4. Explain to students that their presentation should address the following topics:
   • An overview of their topic of study
   • Explanation of the focus of the research the scientists are conducting
   • An explanation of the research goals
   • An explanation of what has been learned from the research
   • An explanation of what they hope to learn in the future
   • An explanation of why is it important that the research continues
5. Assemble a panel to listen to the presentations. Based on the information in the presentations, have the panel decide if the research group will have its funding extended.

Activity two – two class periods

1. Discuss the quotation from NATURE’S “Penguins of the Antarctic” program “But Adélies live just inside the margins of possibility, any unseasonably bad weather and a whole generation can be lost.”
2. Explain to students that they are going to create a short “Inside the Margins of Possibility” multi-media storyboard that explains a specific issue that impacts the Adélie penguins. Tell students that the story will include photographs, drawings and/or graphs, text and a sound track. Pass out the “Inside the Margins of Possibility” storyboard organizers.Students may use information from NATURE’S “Penguins of the Antarctic” program and the following websites to create their multi-media story.
   National Science Foundation
   http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/antarct/ajus/nsf9828/9828html/m6.htm
   Effects of tourism on the reproductive success of Adélie penguins at the Palmer Station: Preliminary findings

   National Public Radio
   http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4142383
   Declines Seen in Crucial Penguin Food Staple

   World View of Global Warming
   http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/antarctica.htmlAntarctica: Ice Under Fire

   TEA (Teachers experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic)
   http://tea.armadaproject.org/cowles/2.19.2002.html
   A Tale of Penguins

   Photographs
   http://www.google.com
   You may choose to search the Google website to find photographs for the storyboard.

3. Provide time for students to share their storyboards with the class. If you have access to the appropriate software, you may chose to have students create a digital version of their story. Teacher Note: It is not necessary to limit the creation of storyboards to the Adélie penguin. Students may create a storyboard for other Antarctic penguins or wildlife.

Extension activity – one class period and one homework
assignment

Current Events

Have students visit The Antarctic Sun website to keep in touch with what is happening in Antarctica. The Antarctic Sun website contains news articles on events and research taking place in Antarctica. Ask students to choose an article and write a current events report based on the information in the article.

• The Antarctic Sun
  http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/2005-2006/sctn02-12-2006.cfm