 "Photo: Jarad Reddekopp")
In 1975, George Divoky traveled to Cooper Island in the Arctic to start a study that would focus on seabirds.
Thirty-three years later, Divoky said his study has turned into much more as he has watched the effects of global warming on young birds. A once growing colony of birds has already dropped in numbers as ice begins to melt and fish become scarce.
Divoky, a biology professor and staff member at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, is one of several scientists who brought penguins, an ancient ice core and cutting-edge science to the U during the weekend in an effort to spread awarerness about the danger of global warming.
"Polar-Palooza," a national program sponsored by the National Science Foundation and NASA, is helping to educate Americans across the country in a fun and exciting way about the serious issue of global warming and its drastic affects on the Arctic regions. Now in its second and final year of operation, the program still has many cities to visit.
"Most people don't feel as connected to the Arctic regions, so they don't know a lot about it," said Erna Akuginow, an educator traveling with the program. "This program ties together the native people, biology and geology elements that are affected."
While at the U, the program featured three interactive displays to help educate community members of all ages. Participants saw some of the necessary protective gear researchers wear in the Arctic, learned why penguins are black and saw a glimpse of an ancient ice core.
Kathy Licht, a geologist whose current research is centered in the polar regions, highlighted a small ice core transported from the Newall Glacier. She emphasized the importance of the disappearing records in researching earth's history.
"This ice core is as old as the Trojan War," Licht said. "The ice is the best record of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In the entire record, no levels are as high as they are now."
Accompanying the program is Sean Topkok, a native Alaskan, who has come to share his perspective on global warming and the effects he has seen on his own relatives. Topkok spoke of very fast erosion affecting the northwestern region of Alaska that is causing native populations to be forced to evacuate.
"What you have to understand is that this is their ancestral home," Topkok said. "We are losing our cultural heritage."
m.oveson@chronicle.utah.edu
