Permafrost is permanently frozen ground that remains at 0°C or below for at least two consecutive years. It contains soil, rock and organic material, which didn’t decay, because it was frozen. Due to climate change permafrost is thawing more and more and organic material unfreezes and decomposes and releases greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In this activity, students find out why thawing permafrost accelerates the climate change and becomes dangerous for the Planet. They also do some calculations to compare potential carbon release from permafrost to anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide by their country.

This activity uses science to inspire students’ interest on how the world works. It contains multidisciplinary concepts like climate change, feedback loops, combines Physics, Chemistry and Geography. It also combines Mathematics, as the main task is to do calculations to compare potential carbon release from permafrost to anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide. The last part of the activity provides a good opportunity for adding Arts into the mix.

The activity was created within the POLAR STAR project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (2019-1-FI01-KA201-060780).

We would like to thank warmly Polar Advisors, who provided valuable ideas and materials for this particular activity: Stelios Anastassopoulos, Daniela Bunea, Svetla Mavrodieva, Spyros Meleetiadis, Nikolaos Nerantzis and Elena Vladescu.

Find out more: http://polar-star.ea.gr/