Introduction

Target group
Pupils in lower secondary (7th - 10th graders) in the subjects geography, biology, physics, and social science.

 

Learning aims
This course will give the pupils knowledge about:

• the background reasons why we experience sea level rises.
• where problems will arise, now and in the future, because of sea level rises.
• how it is attempted locally to counter sea level rise problems.
• how digital tools may be used to visualise global problems.

 

Introducing the subject

When introducing the subject you might need access to computer with projector or a data projector.

• Start a discussion in the clasroom: what do we know about sea level rise?
  
  
• Play the presentation from ACIA - Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.
  Click here to open the presentation from ACIA (opens a new window)
  
   

 

Next, a short introduction to the subject is presented so the pupils get an idea of why it is important. Use for example the following text:

 

Some people think that about one sixth of the population of the Earth – 600 million people – will be affected by sea level rises during the next hundred years.

One reason in particular is that in many places people have settled along rivers and in lowlands near the coast where the land was fertile, and there was easy access to drinking water and access to transportation of goods. These regions are exposed to flooding – in particular in connection with storms and hurricanes, which will become ever more frequent and violent because of climate changes.
Sea level rises may destroy and flood important river deltas, ecological system as well as, agricultural and residential areas. In the worst hit regions, millions of people will be forced to move, and many big cities face untold investments in coastal protection.

Especially small islands are exposed – their fresh water supply will be destroyed by increased levels of sea water – and in many places, entire groups of islands risk disappearing from the world map.

 

As a supplement, the following links may be presented:

• Accumulated changes in glacial volume in the Arctic since 1960.
  Click here to open Accumulated changes in glacial volume in the Arctic since 1960 (opens a new window).
  On this page, you will find three geographical models, which show how the sea level has already risen and how the masses of ice in Greenland have diminished.
  
  
• Sea Level Rise Due to Global Warming Poses Threat to New York City
  Click here to open the article Sea Level Rise Due to Global Warming Poses Threat to New York City from Sciencedaily.com (opens a new window).
  New York is one of several world metropolises that are directly threatened by sea level rises.
  

Talk about the picture from New York (from the link above).

• Why may sea level rise become a problem?
• What will happen if the sea rises greatly?
• What can be done?

Then go on to Why do sea level rises occur?

 

Why do sea level rises occur?

There are two crucial reasons why we experience global sea level rises:

1. First, large masses of ice on land will melt because of a warmer climate. This is the case with the inland ice in Greenland and Antarctica as well as ice bound in glaciers in cold, often mountainous, regions – for instance the Himalayas and the Alps.
   
   
2. The other reason for sea level rises is that the water in the oceans will expand when it gets warmer.
   Then the water will take up more space.

 

Lab activities
You will need access to a science classroom, miscellaneous containers, water, a lot of ice cubes, rocks, markers, jugs, balloons, etc.

Let the pupils suggest how experiments may demonstrate

• that ice on land can contribute to sea level rise.
• that floating ice that melts will not change the sea level.
• that warming and cooling of the oceans may change the sea level.

If possible, the pupils can verify their ideas. Let the pupils take pictures of their experiments and submit them to the interactive map here on Teacher's COP15.
Click here to go to the interactive map on Teachers' COP15 (active from August 2009).

They may also describe their work in a weblog to be presented on class. If the case may be, pick two pupils to describe the work of the class in text and images taken with the camera from the pupils' mobile phones.

If the pupils are short of ideas about experiments, they may use one or more of the following:

• Ice on land 
• Sea ice 
• Temperature 

 

 

Additional experiments
Here you find a couple other experiments that can show something about sea level rises from The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Click here to open an Adobe pdf file with experiments from EPA.