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Sustainability - Arctic

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Scene 1:

An instructor speaks to the class giving them background for the experience they are about to go on to the Arctic.

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Location: The Center for Planetary Observation

Scene Description: The instructor stands at the front of the class. The students are rapt, their attention focused on the holographic globe hovering in the center of the room. The globe displays a detailed map of the Arctic, and the instructor uses it to point out key locations and insights they will be exploring during their virtual trip. Script: Instructor: Good morning, class! Today we're going on a virtual trip to the Arctic to learn about sustainability. [faculty explains where exactly we are going, the importance of the location and the goal for the activity] [the Globe in the center of the room moves and animates to reflect the information being talked about by the professor.]

Instructor: Any questions? Instructor: Perfect, if there is nothing else we’ll be on our way. [Everyone in the room is then teleported to the artic]

Questions we have:

What is the background for the experience? Why are we going to the artic and what will you say about the environment before we take the students there. Do you have an idea for where exactly in the artic we would be?

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Props, Models & Environment:

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Scene 2:

The students arrive in the Arctic on a large piece of ice.

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Location: The Arctic

Scene Description: The chilly wind whips through their air and the sound of cracking ice echoes in the distance. The instructor begins to speak, his voice muffled by the howling wind. He points out the unique features of the Arctic, from the ice formations to the native wildlife. Script: Instructor: Welcome to the Arctic, students. As you can see, we arrived here on a large sheet of ice. This environment is unique and can be quite harsh. It's important to pay attention to your surroundings and be prepared for anything. [faculty provides more details on the arctic, animals that live here, weather conditions, any other notable facts. During this moment a polar bear can be seen walking in the background. The instructor make a few remarks about it.]

However if you want to see the full story of the Arctic, we have to go forward in time.

[The Professor pushes a button and the class is teleported to a version of the arctic from the past]

Questions we have:

What things do you want to note about the Artic when you first arrive?

Animals?

Weather conditions?

lack of Ice?

Props, Models & Environment:

Artic Environment

Polar Bear?

Wind blowing

Snow falling

Helicopter

Ice breaker ship

Notes

add Ice measuring activity

measure ice thickness

measure sunlight transmitted into the water column through the ice

Arctic not Artic ;) throughout

would be better if they were not sitting around a table — I’ll talk with Peter about other options

helicopter in the near background

icebreaker ship in the far background

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Scene 3:

The students go forward in time to a older version of the Arctic

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Location: The Arctic (Future)

Scene Description: The students are transported to a new location. As they look around, they notice the stark differences between what they see now and what was depicted in the last scene. They witness much less ice and snow there is more ocean than ever surrounding them. Script: Instructor: this is how the Arctic will look if we continue to do nothing about climate change. [A Narluga pops it’s head out of the water for the students to see] Instructor: That’s odd that looked like a Beluga but something was off. It almost seemed to have traits of a Narwhal. Oh well... [Instructor continues providing more information on the future version of the artic and why it is so different from our current Arctic] [On another piece of ice across from the students a Grolar bear can be seen walking around]

Instructor: Oh look another polar bear. Wait.. Is that a grolar bear? Hmm.. Something seems to be off. We’ll need to take a closer look at the ecosystem around here to get a better understanding of what is going on. In order to do that we’ll need to head under water.

[The scene begins to fade out as we transition to an underwater scene]

Questions we have:

Props, Models & Environment:

Narluga

Grolar Bear

Wind blowing

Snow falling

Notes:

should be thin, scattered sea ice, not the large ice bergs shown here — like these but with the floes farther apart. script can refer to it being hard to find a good place to land because the floes are small and the ice is so “rotten” that’s the technical term for ice that has been softened by melting and so falls apart easily

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https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Greenland-Pack-Ice-Along-The-East-Coast.jpeg⁠

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gi.alaska.edu%2Fnews%2Fresearch-shows-need-improve-prediction-arctic-melt-ponds&psig=AOvVaw3WhmrUMSNqoWuPobRawxII&ust=1696028208583000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCLiTysmzzoEDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE⁠

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Scene 4:

Students go under water to view the algae forests of the Arctic

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Location: The Arctic Underwater (Future)

Scene Description: The light fades and the water becomes murky. Suddenly, the group emerges underwater beneath the ice. Their guide explains that they are looking at the algae forests that grow beneath the icebergs. The students are fascinated as they watch the tiny organisms sway in the underwater currents. Script: Instructor: These are the algae forests that exist in the Arctic. The Inuit refer to this as their “garden” which harbors the food they live on [Instructor provides more information on the algae forests] Instructor: Lets take a closer look at the algae and see if we notice anything.

[Just then

a piece of algae flies on to each students desk⁠

here they are given a futuristic microscope to analyze the algae] [during the examination of the algae an anomaly is detected in it’s DNA]

Instructor: That’s odd, that is definitely not normal for the algae, we’ll have to take a closer look at this back in the classroom. Let’s head back above water and then we can return to the classroom. [The students teleport back to the CPO to end their experience and continue examination of the algae sample they collected.]

Questions we have:

What things do you want to note about the Artic when you first arrive?

Animals?

Weather conditions?

lack of Ice?

Props, Models & Environment:

Algae forrest

Underwater Scene

Individual pieces of algae

Microscope tool for zooming in on the Algae

Image of algae at a cellular level

AUV/ROV being deployed

Notes:

explore and assess the underice environment in the pods — maybe some students can measure sunlight while others can measure ice thickness

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