Measuring Arctic and Antarctic Ice Morton M. Sternheim June, 2011

Arctic Ice Cap – 31 year change Sept Sept. 2010

Arctic Ice Cap Shrinking Climate change is greatest in polar regions Northwest and Northeast Arctic passages opening Monthly Arctic and Antarctic NOAA images online from November 1978 Students can measure areas with ADI Mask Colors Seasonal increase and decrease in area Arctic area changes over the years September extent decreased over 30% Similarities and differences between Arctic, Antarctic Have each group do a few images, plot joint graph

Seasonal Variation March 2010 Sept. 2010

Arctic and Antarctic Ice Images ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135 Individual files, sorted by month; ice areas noted Zip files with and without areas March, September image zip files for all years Monthly images for 2010 Use ADI Mask Colors to measure areas