Reading Three: Land dwellers Impact: Difficulty getting to food Global warming has affected the winter temperature and precipitation in the Arctic. Precipitation that once fell as snow now increasingly falls as freezing rain. This freezing rain as well as increasingly-common freeze-thaw events (when the changing temperature rises above freezing and snow begins to melt and […]
Reading Two: Ice-edge Dwellers Impact: Habitat disintegratingIce-dependent seals like the ringed seal, ribbon seal and bearded seal give birth and nurse their pups on the ice. They make their lairs out of snow on top of the ice. If there is not enough snow cover, they will have difficulty rearing their young. If the ice […]
Reading One: Polar Bears Impact: Difficulty getting food Polar bears hunt ice-dwelling seals. The polar bears walk quietly on the ice to the edge of a seal’s breathing hole in the ice. The bear then waits for the seal to surface for air. This hunting technique takes much less energy for the bear than chasing […]
Learn More: Arctic Animals Arctic Peoples Scientists Arctic Explorers We are all members of the community of Planet Earth. Looking in detail at a specific area, namely the Arctic, can help us appreciate the meaning of community. In the Arctic community we see different members with diverse perspectives and ways of knowing all contributing to […]
Modern Explorers Discussion Starters Lesson Plans Action! More Resources Adventure Learning In 1995 explorer Will Steger left Siberia, crossed the frozen Arctic Ocean over the North Pole and arrived at northern Canada’s Ward Hunt ice shelf, the largest ice sheet in the Arctic. An ice shelf is a glacier that extends out over the ocean, […]
Discussion Starters Lesson Plans Action! More Resources Adventure Learning Arctic Animals: Profiles Reading 01: Polar Bear Reading 02: Ice-edge dwellers Reading 03: Land dwellers Reading 04: Ocean Communities Reading 05: Plant Communities Animals of the High Arctic have special adaptations that allow them to survive in the harsh climate. The muskox, stays warm with a […]
Sigrid Ekran Age 28, Norway REFLECTIONS OF A YOUNG EXLPLORER, by Sigrid Ekran I grew up on the family farm in Norway. My family always enjoyed an active outdoor lifestyle. Now I live a subsistence lifestyle in Alaska, and I hunt, fish and trap most of the food that I need. I live in a […]
Educator/Explorer/Lecturer www.bancroftarnesen.com www.annbancroftfoundation.org BACKGROUND In 1986 Ann Bancroft traveled 1,000 miles (1,600 km) by dogsled from the Northwest Territories in Canada to the North Pole as the only female member of Will Steger’s International Polar Expedition. This feat earned Ann the distinction of being the first known woman in history to cross the ice to […]
www.canadianarcticholidays.ca BACKGROUND In 1995 Canadian Richard Weber and Russian Mikikail Malakov became the first and only people to ski unsupported from Northern Canada to the North Pole and back to Canada. They traveled by ski, pulling sleds for 123 days! This was not Richard’s first or only Arctic expedition, however. From 1978 to 2006, Richard […]
www.oneworldexpedition.com BACKGROUND During the last 20 years, Lonnie Dupre has traveled over 14,000 miles throughout the Polar regions by dog team, ski and kayak. Lonnie made a 3,000-mile, first, west to east winter transit of Canada’s Northwest Passage in 1991 by dog team. In 2001, Lonie along with Australian John Hoelscher became the first to […]