Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Grey, and I'm so excited that you've decided to join me to learn geography today.

Today's lesson is in our unit of Ice and glaciers: How are cold places affected by a warming planet? And the title of today's lesson is Antarctica: A frozen wilderness.

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to describe the location of Antarctica and explain how it is studied.

There are some keywords that we'll come across in today's lesson.

They are glacier, continent, and wilderness.

A glacier is a huge accumulation of ice and snow that moves slowly over land.

A continent is a large continuous area of land on Earth, and wilderness is a natural area largely untouched by humans.

Now, today's lesson on Antarctica: A frozen wilderness is split into two learning cycles.

The first, what is Antarctica's environment like? And the second, why is it the perfect place for science? So let's have a look at our first learning cycle then.

What is Antarctica's environment like? So Antarctica is located in the Southern Hemisphere surrounded by the Southern Ocean, and the Southern Hemisphere is the bottom part of the Earth below the equator, that Southern Hemisphere of the Earth, and it's surrounded, Antarctica is surrounded by an ocean called the Southern Ocean.

The South Pole is in Antarctica, and here's a map of the world showing all the continents and oceans, and you can see there right at the bottom, that continent there, that's Antarctica surrounded there by the Southern Ocean.

Now, Antarctica's a really, really large continent.

It's the fifth-largest continent, covering an area of around 14 million square kilometres, very, very big.

Here's a satellite image there of Antarctica.

Now, unlike the Arctic, which is an ocean covered by ice, Antarctica is a land mass covered by a thick layer of ice.

So it's not an ocean.

Antarctica is a continent.

It's a land, a massive land, and that land is covered with a really, really thick layer of ice.

Okay, so we're onto our first check of the lesson then.

True or false? Antarctica is an ocean covered in sea ice.

Is that true or false? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? True or false? Antarctica is an ocean covered in sea ice.

That is false, but why is it false? It's false because Antarctica is a continent, not an ocean.

It has a landmass beneath its thick ice sheets, unlike the Arctic, which is sea ice floating on the ocean.

Did you get that right? Well done.

So Antarctica is one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth, and there's our keyword again there, wilderness, which is an area of land largely untouched by humans, and there's not many of those remaining on Earth, and Antarctica's one of them.

So it's largely untouched by human activity and has extreme natural landscapes.

You can see an image there of Antarctica.

You can't see any evidence of human activity on that picture there at all, can you? So it's classed as a wilderness, an area largely untouched by human activity.

Now Laura asks, "How cold is it in Antarctica?" A really, really good question, Laura.

It seems like it's gonna be cold, doesn't it? Those images we've seen look cold.

We've heard that the South Pole is cold.

It's got a lot of ice on it.

How cold actually is it in Antarctica? Now, temperatures in Antarctica can drop as low as minus 80 degrees in the winter, minus 80, very, very cold.

It is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth.

So Antarctica as a continent, it's the coldest, driest and windiest on Earth, so very, very difficult environment.

91% of all glaciers in the world are found in Antarctica.

So Antarctica's got a lot of glaciers, and it's got almost all of the world's glaciers, 91% of all glaciers.

See a pie chart there showing all the glaciers in the world, and that lighter green shows Antarctic glaciers, and the darker green shows the rest of the world glaciers.

So you can see, as a proportion of the world's glaciers, Antarctica has a huge amount, and these glaciers that are in Antarctica store about 70% of the world's fresh water.

So a huge number of glaciers and a very, very large proportion of the world's fresh water is stored in Antarctic glaciers.

Another check for us now then.

What percentage of the world's glaciers are found in Antarctica? Can you remember? Is it a, 9%, b, 19%, c, 89%, or d, 91%? Can you remember what the answer is? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? What percentage of the world's glaciers are found in Antarctica? Is it 9%, 19%, 89% or 91%? And the answer is 91%.

A huge proportion of the world's glaciers are found in Antarctica.

Did you get that right? Well done.

Right, so now we're onto our first big task of the lesson.

So fill in the table to describe the location and environment of Antarctica.

So we've got a table there, and we've got some information about Antarctica that you need to fill in.

So the hemisphere, which hemisphere is it in? The area, how big is it? What's the lowest winter temperatures experienced in Antarctica? And what percentage of the world's glaciers does Antarctica have? So have a little look at that table.

Have a think about the answers to those four different questions, those four different things that you need to know about Antarctica.

Pause the video, fill in the information into that table, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? Let's have a look at some of those answers then.

So Antarctica is in the Southern Hemisphere.

Its area is 14 million square kilometres.

The lowest winter temperatures that it experiences is minus 80 degrees, and it has 91% of the world's glaciers.

Did you get all four of those bits of information in the table? Well done.

Okay, so we finished our first learning cycle on what is Antarctica's environment like.

We looked at lots of different bits of information about the environment in Antarctica.

Now we're gonna go on to our second learning cycle, which is, why is it the perfect place for science? So Antarctica has no native human population, which means that no people live there or are born there in Antarctica.

It is inhabited only by researchers and support staff who live in research stations like this image here.

So there's no native human population living there, but people go there.

Researchers and support staff go there to help with research or to do research, and they live for short periods of time in these research stations, like the one that you can see there.

Another check there then.

True or false? Antarctica has a native human population.

Is that true or is that false? What do you think? Pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? True or false? Antarctica has a native human population.

That is false.

Why is it false? Antarctica has no native human population.

It is inhabited only by researchers and support staff who live in research stations.

Did you get that? Well done.

So Alex is now asking, "How many research stations are in Antarctica?" Really, really good question, Alex.

How many research stations are there in Antarctica? What do you think the answer might be? Could you have a guess? How many do you think there might be? There are around 70 permanent research stations in Antarctica, operated by 29 different countries.

So 70 research stations are in Antarctica, and 29 different countries operate those research stations.

And scientific studies in Antarctica focus on numerous different areas.

There's lots and lots of different things that can be studied in Antarctica.

One of them is astronomy, so looking at the stars and space.

One of them is ice core analysis, so analysing cores of ice that are taken from Antarctica, and one of them is ecosystems, looking at different ecosystems that are living in Antarctica.

So let's have a look at each one of those three things in turn and find out a little bit more information about each of those scientific areas of research that's done on Antarctica.

So first, let's look at astronomy.

Antarctica's got very, very low pollution levels because there's very, very few people live there.

Antarctica's low pollution levels make it an ideal location for scientific research.

Astronomers who go to Antarctica to study can study the stars more effectively because there is minimal air pollution to interfere with their observations.

So if you think about places around the world where people live and there's lots and lots of pollution from things like cars and factories, that can have an impact on astronomers being able to study the stars and space properly, but in Antarctica, there isn't all of those things.

There aren't lots and lots of cars or factories and lots and lots of pollution.

So astronomers are able to study the stars more effectively.

So that makes it a brilliant place to go and research astronomy.

Now, scientists also go to Antarctica to study past climates to look at what the climate was like historically, and they drill deep into Antarctic ice sheets to be able to do that.

This is a picture of an ice core.

So you drill deep down and pull out a core of ice that you're able to study.

So they extract these ice cores, which are cylindrical samples of ice extracted from deep below the surface, and you can see on the image there that core of ice which is extracted, and then they're able to look at lots and lots of information and study what the climate has been like in the past in Antarctica.

The ice contains layers of frozen records of past environments, with the deeper layers representing the older periods of time.

And now Alex is asking us, "What do the ice cores tell us?" Another really, really good question, Alex.

By analysing the ice cores, scientists can estimate temperatures and atmospheric conditions from thousands of years ago.

Isn't that amazing? So by looking at those ice cores, we're actually able to reconstruct what the climate was like thousands of years ago and what the conditions were like in the atmosphere.

And this information can then be used to help us to predict future changes, and that's where we get all of these graphs that maybe you've seen of what the past climate was like and predictions about what might happen in the future.

We're getting all of this from all of this research that's happening.

And then also scientists study different ecosystems. So scientists monitor penguin and seal colonies to track population changes over time.

So they look at the groups of penguins and the groups of seals and they track what's happening to those populations over time.

Now, these animals are indicators of environmental health, as changes in their numbers can reflect shifts in food availability, sea ice coverage, and climate conditions.

So you can get a lot of information by tracking how the populations of these different animals change over time.

The animals obviously need food to survive.

So if those populations are growing, then that's showing that we have a large amount of food available to those animals, but if the populations are shrinking, then perhaps something's happening to their food source, also sea ice coverage.

These animals use the sea ice, and then it can give us a little bit of an indication about what the sea ice is like based on the sizes of those populations and also the climate conditions.

They are adapted to live in certain conditions, and so if their populations are decreasing, then maybe there's something happening to the climate, which is meaning that they're not able to survive in those climates.

So looking and tracking the changes to those populations over time can give us lots and lots of different bits of information.

Okay, so we're now on to our second task of the lesson.

We've got a question here for you to answer, and the question is, who lives in Antarctica and what do they do? So who lives there and what do they do? So pause the video, write down your answer, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? Who lives in Antarctica and what do they do? So your answer might include, "Antarctica doesn't have a native human population.

The only people who live there are researchers and support staff working at research stations.

There are about 70 research stations run by 29 different countries.

Scientists study things like astronomy, ice cores, and Antarctica's unique ecosystem." How much of that information did you get? Well done.

So, got another question for you to answer here.

Alex has answered the question, "what do scientists study in Antarctica?" and he's made six mistakes.

Can you find and correct each one? So we've got a nice big answer there to the question, "What do scientists study in Antarctica?" But there's six different mistakes in there.

So you need to find the mistakes and change them.

Correct them to something that's correct.

So I'll read through this answer.

"Scientific research in Antarctica covers areas such as astrology, ice core analysis, and the ecosystem.

The continent's high pollution levels make it an ideal location for astronomers.

as minimal air pollution allows clearer observations of the stars.

Scientists drill deep into the Antarctic ice sheet to extract ice cores, rectangular samples that contain frozen records of future environments.

Deeper layers represent younger periods, helping scientists estimate past temperatures and atmospheric conditions, which can be used to predict future climate changes.

Researchers also monitor penguin and seal populations, as changes in their numbers indicate shifts in water availability, sea ice coverage, and climate conditions." So pause the video, have a read through, identify those six mistakes and correct them, and then come back and let's see how you got on.

Okay, how did you get on? So let's go through the correct answer then.

"Scientific research in Antarctica covers areas such as astronomy, ice core analysis, and the ecosystem.

The continent's low pollution levels make it an ideal location for astronomers, as minimal air pollution allows clearer observations of the stars.

Scientists drill deep into the Antarctic ice sheet to extract ice cores, cylindrical samples that contain frozen records of past environments.

Deeper layers represent older periods, helping scientists to estimate past temperatures and atmospheric conditions, which can be used to predict future climate changes.

Researchers also monitor penguin and seal populations, as changes in their numbers indicate shifts in food availability, sea ice coverage, and climate conditions." How did you get on there then? Did you get all of those? Did you manage to find all six mistakes and correct them? Well done.

Okay, so we're at the end of our lesson now then on Antarctica: A frozen wilderness, and let's have a look at what we've learned today.

Antarctica is a continent at the southernmost point of the world.

91% of all glaciers are found in Antarctica, and scientists across the world work in Antarctica, but no one lives there permanently.

Thank you for joining me for today's geography lesson.

I've really enjoyed it, and I hope you have too.

See you next time.