The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls the Arctic ‘the most vulnerable and fragile environment on the planet’. It is already experiencing irreversible change. Arctic sea ice is a unique and threatened ecosystem which will continue to decline as global temperature rises. Young people need to know and understand the impact that human influence is having on their world and the future risks of climate change.

Catlin Group Limited and Digital Explorer are inviting thousands of students to join an Arctic expedition onto the frontlines of climate change to investigate the latest impacts on the Arctic Ocean. They will be specifically looking at ocean acidification. To minimise their environmental impact, the students’ involvement will be virtual not physical. From April 21 to May 3, 2014, schools will be able to connect and interact live via satellite with the expedition at the NERC base on Svalbard, the northernmost public settlement in the world.

This interaction with Digital Explorer’s Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop and Dr Helen Findlay from Plymouth Marine Laboratory will allow students to join scientists and explorers on the expedition. Their work builds on their pioneering research undertaken during the Catlin Arctic Survey in 2011. There is a full education programme from the 2011 expedition available on the Digital Explorer website. To follow Jamie and Helen’s new journey check out the Digital Explorer blog, sign up to Skype in the classroom and access the accompanying resources.

This beautiful and magnificent ecosystem is dependent upon the protection of future generations. Ocean Literacy is becoming a larger part of the UK national curriculum, it is more important than ever to engage students from a young age in the protection and preservation of our environment. The Arctic Education Event and classroom resources allows an innovative and engaging approach to educating young people.

Arctic Live forms part of XL Catlin’s Oceans Education programme which is focused on increasing ocean literacy around the world. It is a collaboration between XL Catlin, Digital Explorer the British Antarctic Survey, who operate the UK Arctic Research Station and Skype in the classroom, now part of the Microsoft Educator Community. It runs from 7-11 March 2016 in Longyearbyen, Svalbard and then from the UK Arctic Research Station in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard from 11-18 March 2016.

14 April 2014