How does climate change feel for reindeer? Can a turkey melt? And why is research in the Arctic better than any vacation on the beach? Comic fans experience these stories about permafrost in a series of science cartoons. With their work on the comics, two artists and twelve scientists will show you a completely new view on the Arctic. In addition to German, English, French, Swedish, Danish, Luxembourgish and Russian, the comic booklet has now also been published on Inuktitut - the language of the Inuit. Michael Fritz is a scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam, responsible for the German version and one of the authors of "ES TAUT!" (https://frozengroundcartoon.com).
Click here for the comics. You can get these in limited quantities in printed form free of charge on request from us. Just write an email or call.
Here you can find a short video as a short summary of the project.
A few animated cartoons and videos (in English and French) on the following topics can be found here:
If you want to dive into the comics with your smartphone, you can download the free app for iOS and Android.
This multimedia application links the comics with 3D objects and photos. Stand in front of a polar bear and a reindeer or navigate in interactive maps that show you the permafrost zones in the Arctic. In interviews, you will learn what permafrost is, what the effects of climate change are and how scientists are studying the water and carbon cycle that are essential for understanding global change. Finally, embedded videos explain what kind of local solutions are planned in the northern communities and how scientists and indigenous people work together to understand and adapt to this changing environment. Enjoy this innovative tool for the cartoons!
There are several ways to involve learners and to incorporate exciting or fun stories into teaching materials, but they are generally underused. The aim of this project is to make knowledge about permafrost accessible to pupils, teachers and parents by creating cartoons. With this project, we want to establish an understanding for permafrost research among a broader audience, inspire potential future permafrost researchers and raise public and scientific awareness of polar research, education, public relations and environmental engagement.
Societal and scientific benefits:
Permafrost occupies an area of more than twenty million square kilometers in the polar regions and in high mountain areas. These environments are sensitive to climate change and human activity. Permafrost research is therefore of considerable scientific and social importance. However, the results of this research are often unknown to the general public or the mainstream media. Communicating the causes and effects of environmental changes to the public is an important, albeit often neglected, task in today's competitive research.
