Putting permafrost in the classroom

The Arctic’s permanently frozen soils are increasingly thawing – with far-reaching consequences for the climate and for people living in the region. Together with partner schools in Germany, schoolchildren from Aklavik, Canada are helping the Alfred Wegener Institute gather valuable data on permafrost. By doing so, they’re improving the joint understanding of the changes at work on their doorstep. 

When it comes to climate change, the Arctic is one of the hardest-hit regions on Earth. For example, rising temperatures are increasingly thawing its permanently frozen soils, making the ground unstable. And that has consequences for the day-to-day lives of the roughly five million people who live atop the permafrost. Entire sections of coastline are washed away by the sea, while elsewhere the ground collapses, which can mean massive damage to buildings and other types of infrastructure.

What does the future hold in this regard? And what can the people living there do to prepare? After all, their future is on the line. But the changes underway in the High North could also spell danger for other regions around the world – because the thawing soils are releasing greenhouse gases, which will intensify global climate change. In response, our permafrost experts are working at fever pitch to gain a better understanding of these processes. In this regard, they’ve turned to the local populace for help, an approach that has paid off. 

Young people in particular can demonstrate impressive commitment when given the chance to look behind the scenes of ongoing research projects and to pitch in directly. Our project “UndercoverEisAgenten”, funded by the Ministry of Education and Research, offers them that chance. Not only do we – together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology – contribute climate knowledge to enrich the coursework at our partner schools; at the same time, we and our partners benefit from valuable new data on the extent of and changes in the permafrost.

To gather that data, schoolchildren in Aklavik, Canada pilot drones over the Arctic landscape, using them to photograph it from above. In turn, schoolchildren in Germany help to analyse the resulting images. Plus, other interested parties can use a specially designed WebApp to join in the permafrost investigation. The data helps researchers automate their calculations, while also making their uncertain future a bit more predictable for those living in the Arctic.