Polar Exploration Then & Now
Compare historical polar exploration with modern polar science. The Heroic Age (1897–1922) relied on ships, dogs, and human endurance with many fatalities, while today's polar scientists use GPS, satellites, icebreaker ships, heated research stations, and aircraft; understand that modern challenges include studying climate change data, and that polar science now includes diverse international teams including women scientists like glaciologist Liz Thomas and marine biologist Sylvia Earle
What a learner can do afterwards
- Compare Heroic Age exploration (dog sleds, man-hauling, many deaths) with modern science (GPS, satellites, icebreakers, heated stations)
- Name at least two technologies that make modern polar science possible
- Name a modern polar scientist and explain that today's polar teams are diverse and international
1 · Read
You already know how Scott and Amundsen raced to the South Pole with dog sleds, man-hauling their sledges, and real danger of death. Polar science has changed a lot since then, but the cold has not.
Glaciologist Liz Thomas doesn't walk across the ice for months. She flies in on a plane, checks her exact spot with GPS, and drills ice cores near a heated research station to study how the climate is changing.
Modern polar teams come from many countries and include women scientists, like Liz Thomas and marine biologist Sylvia Earle. Diverse, international teams are normal in polar science today.
Explorers once risked death with dog sleds, but today's scientists study the poles more safely using GPS, satellites, heated stations, and diverse international teams.
More to read
S4 E1&2: TIL about the changing ocean
The ocean is a huge part of the climate change story. It has soaked up about one third of the extra carbon dioxide that people have added to the air, and more than 90 percent of the extra heat trapped around our planet. That is a lot of work for one ocean! In this episode, we go underwater to talk about the ocean and climate change with Dr. Sylvia Earle, a famous marine biologist. A marine biologist is a scientist who studies life in the ocean. Dr. Earle has spent her whole career exploring the sea and teaching people why it matters. She shows that modern science is done by all kinds of people, including women who lead expeditions and explore the deepest parts of the ocean. Scientists like her help us understand how the ocean is changing and what we can do to protect it.
Greenhouse Gases Data Lesson
This lesson is all about exploring real climate change data. You get to look at information about greenhouse gases, the temperature of the whole Earth, melting ice, and rising sea levels. This is exactly the kind of work that modern polar scientists do. That is very different from the Heroic Age of exploration, from 1897 to 1922, when crews crossed the ice with wooden ships and dog sleds, hauling sledges by hand, and many died trying. Instead of racing to the South Pole like explorers did long ago, today's scientists use tools like GPS, satellites, icebreaker ships, heated stations, and aircraft to collect measurements and study the data carefully to learn how our planet is changing. The lesson uses almost real-time data, which means the numbers are very fresh and up to date. All of the data comes from trusted science sources, and the lesson has passed a science quality check. It is built around curiosity, so you get to ask questions and dig into the numbers like a real scientist.
Explore more
2 · Watch
En anglaisTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Optional connections
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.