Glaciers - Climate Change Series - STEM Challenge
Create an ice core
Glaciers are large, masses of ice that form when a single location receives lots and lots of snow that doesn’t melt away over the summer months. Over hundreds of years of accumulation, every season the snow underneath gets squished by the weight of the new snow on top - and eventually turns into layers of ice. It is these layers that add up to build a glacier!
As snow falls it collects particles of dust, pollen and chemicals. This means that anything in the atmosphere during a snowfall can get trapped and then preserved in the Glacier.
Scientists use ice core samples to help them learn more about the history of the Earth. What is an ice core? A core is a cylinder of material that has been removed from a larger body of material. An ice-core is exactly that - scientists drill down into a glacier and remove a sample of ice to study the different layers.
Let’s create our own!
Materials needed:
Still water
Carbonated water
Tubular containers to create your cores in (pringles or tennis balls containers work really well)
Food colouring
Measuring cup
Ruler
Calculator
Ash or sand or anything else you can think of
Create your Ice Core
Begin by determining the volume of your container - how many mL of water can it hold?
Once you have determined the volume of your container, divide that number by 10. This will represent an average season's snowfall (precipitation).
Example:
Container = 1250mL 1250 / 10 = 125mL
125mL will represent an average season of snowfall* (precipitation)
*the lighter colour for summer months and darker coloured water for the winter months
We will refer to each layer as a season
Fill a large container with clear water, and then fill a second large container with water and a few drops of blue food colouring. Place both in the fridge until the water is chilled.
Pour 1 season of the clear water into the bottom of each tubular container. This is going to represent your first summer’s snowfall.
Put each container into the freezer and allow them to freeze solid.
Once the first layer is frozen, remove the container and pour a second layer using the coloured water. This layer will represent a winter's snowfall. Put the container back in the freezer and wait until solid.
Continue to pour/freeze alternating clear and coloured layers. Feel free to pour slightly different amounts to represent different snowfall accumulation layers. (some years we receive more snow or rain than others)
Try adding to your water to represent different environmental occurrences. What could ash represent? Or sand? How would you represent pollen or radioactive atoms?
What do you think will happen if you use carbonated water as a layer instead of clear still water?
What could you add to the water to represent DMS (learn about this in the slideshow) or microplastics?
Keep in mind that each year is represented by both the blue and clear layer. Lighter layers are summer months and darker layers are winter months. How many layers will you need to represent 4 years?
Once you have established all of your layers, for a 4 year time period, have each group peel away the Pringles container (or mould that you used) and place the cores into a plastic container on a desk or table.
Decode the Ice core
With your Ice core in front of you draw a representation that will allow you to label the different layers. (see appendix B)
How many layers did it take to represent 4 years?
What can the depth of each layer tell you about that year?
What do each of the materials (ash, sand, etc) represent in your glacier ice core?
What else do you think Scientists may find when examining ice cores from real glaciers?
*It could be fun to have students decode a different ice core than the one they create. Trade ice cores around the classroom.
Appendix A
Appendix B
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