The Geological Society of America is sponsoring a conference on coastal management and sea level rise. The conference is intended to increase scientific and public awareness of the realities of global change and its impacts on coastal environments.


Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters.  This special report explores the social as well as physical dimensions of weather- and climate-related disasters, and considers opportunities for managing risks at local to international scales.  This “SREX” report was approved and accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in November 2011.

This lesson is comprised of three activities (three class periods). Students use web-based animations to explore the impacts of ice melt and changes to sea level. Students are introduced to topographic maps by doing a hands-on activity to model the contours of an island. Students examine the relationship between topography and sea level change by mapping changing shorelines using a topographic map.

In this activity, students will learn the difference between sea ice and glaciers in relation to sea level rise. They will create and explore topographic maps as a means of studying sea level rise and how it will affect Alaska's coastline.



The activity follows a progression that examines the CO2 content of various gases, explores the changes in the atmospheric levels of CO2 from 1958 to 2000 from the Mauna Loa Keeling curve, and the relationship between CO2 and temperature over the past 160,000 years. This provides a foundation for examining individuals' input of CO2 to the atmosphere and how to reduce it.


This is a five-activity module that explores the evidence for and impacts of melting glacial ice, with resources from major institutions and scientists who study glaciers -- primarily in Arctic areas. The suite of activities includes both glaciers and melting ice, as well as the impact of melt water downstream. Each activity follows the 5E model of Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation.