Antarctica: Teaching and Learning through a 3D Anaglyph Map

Increased awareness of and curiosity about Antarctica, ice shelves, and ice sheets has been harvested well by education and outreach taking place during the International Polar Year. Relatively few students or educators, however, have specific knowledge about the geographic location of these glaciological entities, or of the mechanisms by which they form, move, disintegrate, or how they may modulate or impact oceanic circulation and global climate. This lack of general background makes it difficult to introduce the finer details associated with ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing, www.andrill.org). To this end a 3D anaglyph map of Antarctica was created from Radarsat SAR Mosaic, with elevation data from RAMP version 2. It can be downloaded from http://www.nced.umn.edu/Maps.html . Observation of the 3D anaglyph map elicits predictable questions that become the foundation for learning about the cryosphere and its continental underpinnings and history in Antarctica. Visually distinct features in the map are (1) the ice shelves , (2) the ice domes, ice divides and the polar plateau, (3) the crevassed regions that mark outflow of the ice sheets and areas of ice streams, as well as (4) the Transantarctic Mountains and (5) the visually complex area that is Antarctic Peninsula. A series of teaching exercises and activities have been developed, and are centered on the questions that are typically generated as a result of observation and discussion. The exercises focus on (a) the physical characteristics of each of the 5 regions, (b) the physical and chemical mechanisms that account for the features of these portions of the cryosphere, (c) the geographic location of Antarctica and its role in thermohaline circulation, (d) the subglacial environment, including ice thickness, depth to bedrock, and sub-glacial lakes, (e) the geologic history of the Antarctic Continent and (f) the reasoning behind selection of the ANDRILL MIS and SMS drillsites.