Permafrost in the Arctic: A Chilling Reality Check

This month our students are learning about the Arctic. We kicked it off by learning about Permafrost. You can purchase our Lesson and Slides with experiment instructions here.

The Arctic is a region of breathtaking beauty, but beneath its icy surface lies a critical component of its ecosystem: permafrost. Permafrost is ground that remains frozen for at least two consecutive years, acting like a giant freezer for vast amounts of organic material and even ancient microbes. But what happens when this freezer starts to thaw?

This is a question that's becoming increasingly relevant as our planet warms. Climate change is causing Arctic temperatures to rise at an alarming rate, leading to the thawing of permafrost. This has profound implications for the environment, global climate, and the communities that call the Arctic home.

The Ground Beneath Our Feet is Shifting

To truly understand the impact of thawing permafrost, imagine the ground you walk on becoming unstable. We recently explored this in a hands-on lesson that vividly demonstrated the effects of permafrost thaw. Students constructed cardboard houses, which we then placed into a layer of soil. Beneath this soil, we had a crucial element: dry ice. This setup mimicked the frozen ground.

When we poured warm water over the soil, the dry ice began to sublimate, transforming directly from a solid to a gas. This rapid change caused the soil to become unstable, and just as we predicted, the cardboard houses began to topple over.

This experiment provided a powerful visual lesson on how thawing permafrost affects real-world infrastructure. Roads buckle, buildings crack, and entire communities face the daunting challenge of shifting landscapes. For residents of the Arctic, this isn't just a scientific concept; it's a daily reality that impacts their homes, livelihoods, and traditions. This slide set also includes a lesson on Sublimation, a solid turning into a gas (dry ice with water). It also includes video lessons!

Purchase Permafrost Lesson Slides Here

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