In this lesson, students will investigate the drivers of climate change, including adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, sea level rise, and the effect of decreasing sea ice on temperatures.

Students examine the two time series images to determine the differences between seasonal ice melt over water versus land.

Teachers, are you looking for resources to help you engage students in data analysis related to changes in the cryosphere using albedo values? Check out these images. 

Students will watch a video on the Greenland Ice Sheet and answer questions.

This Lesson Plan provides some generic maps, graphs, and data tables for use with the Data Literacy Cube. Because this is a differentiated resource, it is appropriate for multiple grade bands.

In this activity, students will learn about sea ice and land ice. They will observe ice melting on a solid surface near a body of water and ice melting in a body of water.

This activity is one of a series in the collection, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change activities. 

Background information on snow and ice extent.

Arctic sea ice is the cap of frozen seawater blanketing most of the Arctic Ocean and neighboring seas in wintertime. It follows seasonal patterns of thickening and melting. Students view how the quantity has changed from 1979 through 2018. 

In this activity, students use satellite images from the NASA Landsat team to quantify changes in glacier cover over time from 1986 to 2018.