Real-Time Science: Observing Arctic Weather and Sea Ice

Join Sarah R. Johnson, local Roaring Fork Valley environmental education specialist at Wild Rose Education and International Arctic Buoy Program PolarTREC educator, to learn about how scientists collect weather data and observe sea ice on the Arctic Ocean amidst the frigid Arctic challenges. She will share from her recent IABP AK Spring 22 Deployment off the coast of Utqiaġvik, Alaska. You and your household will also get to decorate a small wooden boat (as supplies last) to be deployed in the Arctic Ocean later this summer. You will then be able to track its location through satellite data and observe how the sea ice moves. RSVP appreciated

Collaborators include the International Arctic Buoy Programme, National Science Foundation, University of Washington Polar Science Center, Office of Naval Research International Cooperative Engagement Program for Polar Research (ICE-PPR), University of Maryland, ARCUS PolarTREC, Float Your Boat, and Wild Rose Education. 

Explore the IABP 2022 Spring expedition at www.WildRoseEducation.com/Arctic 

Presenter Bio

Sarah R. Johnson is a landscape-based environmental educator. As a freelance science educator she is focused on climate change, public lands, watershed science, civics, and geography, and teaching and learning through Wild Rose Education. She designs and facilitates educator professional development workshops, teaches public lands courses, and facilitates a southwestern US cohort of climate change educators. She also teaches graduate courses for Western Colorado University’s Teacher Institute. Sarah has created and facilitated numerous environmental education programs including the award winning Youth Water Leadership Program.

Sarah earned her MAEd: Natural Science and Environmental Education from Hamline University, St. Paul, MN, and holds a B.S. Biology from Missouri State University, Springfield, MO. Her graduate research involved case studies of science teacher professional development programs at biological field stations across the country. Sarah's background includes watershed education, outreach, facilitation, environmental education, wilderness trip leading, and interpretation. She, a leader in the field of EE, builds inclusive networks of colleagues committed to excellence. She currently serves as an eePro Group moderator for the Spirituality and EE Group as well as the Guidelines for Excellence in EE. Sarah also volunteers as a programmatic advisor for the World Association for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts Girl-led Action for Climate Change program in Latin American and the Caribbean.

She is excited to find ways to authentically relate the science and landscape study of the Arctic to the rural mountain communities of Colorado as well as back to her childhood home in rural southwest Missouri and to many other communities of friends and colleagues around the country and beyond. She has been based in western Colorado working to protect rivers and public lands through education since 2004 where she enjoys playing outside during all seasons, gardening, and making music. Learn more about Sarah at Wild Rose Education.