Messages in the Ice
B1 · Listening: Audio recordings · Climate
🧊 Science Week Guest Speaker — Dr Hannah Price
On Thursday at 11 a.m. in the main hall, Grade 9 will welcome Dr Hannah Price, a climate scientist who has spent five summers working in Antarctica. Dr Price studies ice cores: long tubes of ice that hold tiny bubbles of ancient air. Her team uses them to find out what the Earth’s climate was like hundreds of thousands of years ago. The talk lasts about twenty minutes, followed by questions. Students sent in more than forty questions this week. Here are some of them: “How cold is it where you work?” (Leo) · “Have you ever found anything strange in the ice?” (Lily) · “Can you eat the ice?” (Max) · “Where do you keep the ice cores?” (Amy). Please bring a notebook — Mr Brown will collect your notes for the science display.
Vocabulary
- ice core — a long tube of ice taken from deep under the surface
- drill — make a deep hole with a machine
- bubble — a small ball of air or gas
- trapped — unable to get out
- ancient — very, very old
- freezer — a very cold machine or room for keeping things frozen
- dust — very small dry pieces of dirt
- evidence — facts that show something is true
Sample questions (11 questions)
- What does Dr Price study?
- animals in Antarctica
- ice cores that hold bubbles of ancient air
- the weather in Sunbeam Bay
- Why should students bring a notebook?
- There will be a test after the talk.
- Dr Price will sign them.
- Mr Brown will collect their notes for the science display.
- Complete your notes.
Oldest ice: ___ years · Drill down more than ___ km · Freezer: minus ___ degrees · CO₂ now: over ___ parts per million
Answers and hints from Migo appear when you do it online.