6 Climate

6.0 Introduction and materials

Unit 6 'Climate' will assist students to discover the enormous influence and importance of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in global processes.

6.1 Greenhouse effect and climate change

Research the greenhouse effect and climate change, especially the consequences of increased greenhouse gases.

6.2 Annual ice cycle

In winter Antarctica grows in size as the surrounding sea freezes, making it the world's largest seasonal event!

6.3 Ice cores

Snow in Antarctica doesn't melt but is buried and compressed into ice by later snowfalls.

6.4 Melting ice, rising sea

Investigate the effect of climate change on the Antarctic icecap. Students can explore what could happen to coastal cities if sea levels rose by 50 metres.

6.5 Ozone depletion

Molecules of ozone, a form of oxygen, formed a thin layer in the earth's outer atmosphere hundreds of millions of years ago. This layer has protected all forms of life from the potentially fatal effects of ultra-violet radiation from the sun.

6.6 Before the ice

Fossil evidence indicates that the Antarctic continent was a much warmer place before the cooling Circumpolar Current isolated the continent from its neighbouring land masses. The sea level was much higher, the polar ice cap much smaller, and parts of the continent contained vegetation similar to today's endemic Tasmanian flora.