The ice is melting – How can we investigate the effects of melting ice?
- To investigate where ice can be found on Earth
- To understand that the amount of ice on Earth is decreasing
- To learn the difference between land ice and sea ice and their effects on rising sea level
- To understand that it is colder on areas of ice (white) than on land and water (dark)
- To strengthen experimental skills
- To work in a group
- To plan an experiment
- To describe and explain physical effects that they see
- 2 small plastic cups
- 2 small plastic plates
- 2 ice cubes
- Enough water to fill the two cups
- Modelling clay


• Shoebox
• One A4 piece of stiff card
• Two A4 pieces of black paper
• Two A4 pieces of white paper
• Glue
• Clingfilm
• 2 thermometers
• Sunlight or bright lamp
Did you know?
A glacier is a huge slowly moving block of ice. ESA Earth Observation satellites, such as Sentinel-1A, can produce useful images of glaciers. These images often look a bit strange because scientists falsely colour them to highlight certain points. Look at the Sentinel-1A image on the right, showing Pine Island glacier in Alaska. The colours show the amount of movement of the ice in 12 days. The blue areas have moved 0 m, whereas the pink areas have moved 100 m. This tells us that the pink area is the moving glacier.

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