POLAR DETECTIVES

CAN YOU IMAGINE A YEAR

WITHOUT SUMMER?

• Spring arrived as usual in 1816
• But then seasons seemed to go backward—cold weather returned with a vengeance.
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In many places, the sky seemed permanently overcast.

In

1816…

• Global temperatures dropped 1/2 degree C—
• killing animals and crops in the northern hemisphere.
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• Thomas Jefferson, retired from the presidency, was farming in Monticello.
• That summer, his crops failed and sent him deeper in debt, along with many other farmers.

CONDITIONS IN EUROPE…

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Ireland—much rainier than normal and the potato crops failed.

Europe—wheat crops were dismal—bread shortages.

CONDITIONS IN ASIA…

• China--climate killed trees and rice crops, and even water buffalo died
• India—it disrupted the monsoon season causing late torrential rains aggravating the spread of cholera all the way to Moscow

A LITERARY CONNECTION…

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• Conditions were so grim, Mary Shelley and friends holed up in a holiday hotel in Switzerland, challenged to write dark tales, reflecting the gloom and dreariness of the weather.

• In that climate, Frankenstein was born!

NEWSPAPERS COVERED THE STORY OF THE YEAR WITHOUT SUMMER…

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“We should be glad if proper pains were taken to ascertain, by regular journals of the weather from year to year, the state of the seasons in this country and Europe, as well as the general state of health in both quarters of the globe. We think the facts might be collected, and the comparison made, without much difficulty; and when once made, that it would be of great advantage to medical men, and medical science.”

Interesting that the Albany Advertiser proposed some theories and then called for the events to be studied to understand what was going on:

SO LET’S DO THAT STUDY…

AS SCIENTISTS, WE MUST START WITH A QUESTION:

What caused the extreme 1816 summer conditions, and how did that year’s climate compare to long term patterns?

HYPOTHESIS…

THERE MAY BE EVIDENCE IN THE ICE CORES AS TO WHAT CAUSED THE UNUSUAL CLIMATE IN 1816.

CHECK YOUR SUPPLIES:

• Hand lens
• Black paper
• White paper
• Photo of snowflakes
• Spoon
• Graduated cylinder and black base
• 3 bags: salt, sugar and pepper

BEFORE STUDYING ICE CORES, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND SOME BASICS OF SNOW AND ICE.

• Are all snowflakes the same shape and size?
• Study each snowflake with your hand lens.
• What do you notice about them?

POLAR DETECTIVES—

BACKGROUND

Snow forms differently under different

atmospheric conditions:

• -large branching flakes form when the air is moist and warm (think snowman snow)— large coarse crystals are evidence of snow that fell in summer (appears ‘lighter’ in snow pit)

-under very cold, drier conditions, crystals are finer grained and needle-like—fine, smaller crystals indicate winter accumulation (appears ‘darker’ in snow pit)

SNOW TRANSITIONS TO ICE

EXAMINE THE SUGAR & SALT

• Place a little of the sugar on the black paper and examine it with your hand lens.
• Do the same with the salt.
• Describe to your partner how they look. How are they similar and different?

DIRECTIONS:

Build an ice core model:

1. Build your base with summer snow to a thickness you can clearly see —sugar (representing coarser summer season snow)

2. Add winter snow on top to a layer you can clearly see from the outside of your cylinder. —salt (representing finer winter snow)

Together these 2 layers represent evidence of one year of precipitation at your site.

DIRECTIONS:

(Continued)

Build an ice core model:

4. Continue to alternate layers of summer and winter snow.

5. At several different times, put in evidence of a volcano —pepper (representing an ash layer). This should be a thin layer, but thick enough to see.

6. Examine your “ice core” with your hand lens. What do you observe?

Ice Core Layers

Prepare to become

Polar Detectives!

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Dr. Osterberg is going to lead us through an exploration of data from the time period around “The Year Without Summer.”

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POLAR DETECTIVES—WHAT ELSE WE NEED TO KNOW

Snow contains chemical properties we can’t see:

• During major volcanic eruptions, volcanoes emit sulfur
• Strong winds distribute sulfur all over the planet and it is captured in the ice layers corresponding to the year the volcano erupted
• Volcanoes near the Equator can be found at both Poles—volcanoes in mid to high latitudes are deposited only in the hemisphere where the volcano is located

GRAPHING

Using the graph paper, plot the concentration of sulfur in parts per billion (ppb) on the Y-axis against the year on the X-axis for each core. Use different colored pencils for the Summit (Greenland) and Antarctic data sets.

NOTE: the half added to each year indicates it was half-way through the calendar year, or summer, when the ice core data was recorded.

The ppb represents an average for the year (i.e. summer 1780-summer 1781)

Data courtesy of Dr. Joe McConnell.

CHECK YOUR WORK

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

• Look at your graph
• What conclusions can you draw?
• Discuss with your group/share with the class
• You have just discovered evidence of several major volcanic eruptions around the same time period as the “year without summer.”
• What do you think?
• Was ash in the atmosphere a major factor, blocking sunlight and leading to a “Year Without a Summer”? Could there be other influences?

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CLEAN UP

DIRECTIONS:

• Check that all of the materials are in the same condition as when you got them—if not replace them with materials from the teacher’s table.
• Refill salt, sugar and pepper if there is not enough left in your bags for another group to do the activity.
• Double check that all of the materials at the right are placed back in your large plastic bag

Contents of bags:

Hand lens

Black paper

White paper

Photo of snowflakes

Spoon

Graduated cylinder and black base

3 bags: salt, sugar and pepper

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CLEAN UP

DIRECTIONS:

• Check that all of the materials are in the same condition as when you got them—if not place a Post-it note on the bag telling what needs to be replenished.
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• Double check that all of the materials at the right are placed back in your large plastic bag

Contents of bags:

Hand lens

Black paper

White paper

Photo of snowflakes

Spoon

Graduated cylinder and black base

3 bags: salt, sugar and pepper