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"One of the most striking changes that has taken place in the Arctic since the start of satellite monitoring in 1979 is the rapid decline of the perennial sea ice cover. This ice is the sea ice that survives the summer melt season, and is typically the thickest part of the sea ice cover, sometimes spanning several years. Sea ice extent has declined as the globe has warmed, but the ice cover has thinned as well. Thinner sea ice melts more easily, and as multiyear sea ice is lost, Arctic sea ice has declined more rapidly."

ICE Ice rises ICE Ice rises is a climate project studying the ice rises on the surface of the Antarctic ice shelves and along the edge of the ice. The goal is to determine if, and in that case how, these "islands" affect how fast the ice is moving toward the ocean, which in turn may influence the melting process and a potential rise in sea level.

This is an animation of sea ice volume change over the past 3 decades. It uses PIOMAS modeling data (Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System) from the University of Washington. Data is very hard to understand and visualize - these folks did a nice job making it more accessible through this animation.

Arctic sea ice extent for December 2012 remained far below average, driven by anomalously low ice conditions in the Kara, Barents, and Labrador seas. Thus far, the winter has been dominated by the negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation, bringing colder than average conditions to Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, and Canada.

"The Polar Science Center (PSC) is a unit of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington. Polar Science Center researchers observe and model the physical processes that control the nature and distribution of sea ice and polar ice sheets, the structure and movement of high-latitude oceans, and the interactions between air, sea, ice and biota. The Center has made major contributions to the understanding of how the arctic system has undergone important changes during the past four decades."

Polar Science

Many PBS shows can be streamed from here. A few examples: NOVA'a Ocean 'Tipping Point', NOVA's 'Extreme Ice', NOW on PBS'a 'On Thin Ice' Wide Angle's 'Burning Season', Nature's 'Under Antarctic Ice,' and many more. Many videos are time 'chunked' making them more amenable for classroom use. Once a video is selected, mouse over the screen to show the full screen and other options.

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"NASA scientist Thorsten Markus shares his expertise on polar ice in a lecture at the Library of Congress. In his lecture, Markus summarizes recent observations and findings-together with pictures from Arctic and Antarctic research campaigns-and puts those results into the bigger climate-system picture. He focuses on recent changes in the Arctic and in Antarctica. Markus explains why the two hemispheres react differently to climate change, and concludes his lecture by discussing current and future efforts to address the uncertainties and contradictions of the ice conditions."

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"The Arctic experienced an extended period of warm temperatures about 3.6 million years ago - before the onset of the ice ages - at a time when the concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere was not much higher than the levels being recorded today, a new study finds."

"Snowpit studies provide a vital link between the modern atmosphere and the climate history reconstructed from ice cores. This video documents one of the types of measurements made in snowpits and explains how snow sampling informs ice core studies".

"Second part of Ice Core Sampling sequence "

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"Sea Ice Core Sampling methodology in Barrow, Alaska. Part one of two. "

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Climate scientists have long argued that ancient air trapped in Antarctic ice is the smoking gun that links carbon dioxide to global warming. Over the past 800,000 years or so the planet has gone through a series of ice ages interspersed with relatively warm periods (during which glaciers retreat back toward the poles) - and inevitably, these warm interludes happen when there's more CO2 in the atmosphere

Wonderful resource for sea ice information. It does not 'rise to the top' in Google! Resources and accessibility for K-12 educators continually improves, so it deserves a revisit if it's been awhile since you looked. This would be a good site to start student research (upper middle & high school).

A 2008 Webby Award Honoree for best Science Ice Stories presents and archives 'dispatches from polar scientists.' Nice link to the South Pole Telescope and other materials, too.

polar science

This is a great site for background information. It's more of a researcher and information site than an educational outreach site (although it has that, too). It's very accessible and a good resource to either review a topic or start learning about something. Targeted to older audiences, or some portions are suitable for upper middle school. NSIDC supports research into our world's frozen realms: the snow, ice, glacier, frozen ground, and climate interactions that make up Earth's cryosphere. Scientific data, whether taken in the field or relayed from satellites orbiting Earth, form the foundation for the scientific research that informs the world about our planet and our climate systems.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/landsat/most-accurate-map-of-antarcticas-landmass-made-from-landsat-data/213252075413939 "Antarctica may not be the world's largest landmass -- it's the fifth-largest continent -- but resting on top of that land is the world's largest ice sheet. That ice holds more than 60 percent of Earth's fresh water and carries the potential to significantly raise sea level. The continent is losing ice to the sea, and scientists want to know how much."

"This infographic offers a visual way to explore the various stages of the Earth's history using a 12 hour clock analogy." This is a good add-on to discussions of ice cores and the work of groups that are studying them!

"How to take an albedo measurement of sea ice with Don Perovich. From University of Alaska Fairbanks. Part 1 of 2. "

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"Albedo Measurements explained on the sea ice by Don Perovich. Part 2 of 2. University of Alaska Fairbanks. "

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"These explorations were developed in honor of a scientific celebration of Earth's polar regions, The International Polar Year (IPY) of 2007-9. The activities are suitable for children ages 8-13 unless otherwise noted in the "activities" section. Discover links to additional games, activities, and information in the "further resources" section."