The Greenland StoryMap Collection targets the following areas of the 2023-2024 AQA Geography A-Level specifications.
1: Physical Geography: Water and Carbon Cycles
The water cycle: Cryosphere.
The StoryMaps introduce students to the Greenland Ice Sheet, a major component of the global cryosphere and a significant store of water (7% of the Earth’s freshwater). Students will have the opportunity to calculate the volume of ice (and water equivalent) stored in the Greenland Ice Sheet.
3: Physical Geography: Coastal Systems and Landscapes
Costal landscape development: eustatic, isostatic and tectonic sea level change; Recent and predicted climatic change and potential impact on coasts.
The StoryMaps provide opportunities to investigate examples of coastal landscapes in a non-UK context, including those influenced by glaciation, such as fjords. In addition, the StoryMaps investigate the role of the Greenland Ice Sheet (and glaciation in general) on eustatic (through ice volume change) and isostatic (through glacial isostatic rebound) sea-level change.
4: Physical Geography: Glacial Systems and Landscapes
Glaciers as natural systems: landform and landscape
The StoryMaps contain information points allowing students to investigate a variety of landforms and landscapes beneath and surrounding the Greenland Ice Sheet. Using the map, students can explore the spatial relationships between landscapes, and see how different settings within a glaciated region can create different kinds of landforms and landscapes (e.g., streamlined bedforms, meltwater channels, alpine topography, glacial troughs, and fjords)
The nature and distribution of past and present cold environments (polar)
The StoryMaps will introduce Greenland, identifying its location and various past and present cold environments, including polar ice sheet, alpine, and glacial environments. Some elements will also provide information about conditions in Greenland before it was glaciated and during the early stages of glaciation.
Glaciated landscape Development: landscapes beyond the UK, erosional and depositional landforms, meltwater channels
The StoryMaps provide opportunities to investigate a variety of glaciated landscapes in a non-UK context, including primarily erosion landforms, but also examples of depositional and fluvioglacial landforms.
Human impacts on cold environments: environmental fragility, recent and prospective impact of climate change.
The StoryMaps will cover the fragility of the Greenlandic environment and the impacts of human-induced climate change on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Students will also be able to calculate the ice sheet’s potential contribution to global sea-level rise and consider the impacts of climate change and ice sheet melting on the communities that live in Greenland. The StoryMaps will also consider the role of topography in controlling the response of glaciers and ice sheets to human-induced climate change (e.g., deep troughs providing access to warm ocean water, high ground inland providing opportunities for retreating glaciers to stabilise).
Quantitative and Qualitative skills: observation skills, measurement and geospatial mapping skills
The StoryMaps will allow students to observe and compare a range of geospatial mapping data in the context of the Greenland Ice Sheet. They will have the opportunity to measure distances and sizes of features and compare them to familiar examples. They will be prompted to interact with the various layers to obtain quantitative information such as bed elevation, ice thickness, and ice velocity, and to use this information to perform calculations including rates of change, ice volume, and sea level rise equivalent.
10. Human Geography: Population and the Environment
Introduction: Key elements of the physical environment: climate, soils, resource distributions, water supply; Global patterns of population numbers, densities and change rates.
The StoryMaps explore an example of a region of the world with a very low population density and an almost complete lack of agriculture (owing to unsuitable climate and soils). Nevertheless, Greenland does sustain several permanent settlements and has a long history of indigenous culture and ways of life. The StoryMaps explore how these populations are distributed and how they interact with the physical environment.
14. Geographical Skills: Geographical skills checklist
Quantitative data: Geospatial technologies; base maps; geospatial and geolocated and digital imagery; use of remotely sensed data
The StoryMaps will provide opportunities for students to develop core skills, particularly in the use of geospatial technology (i.e., GIS) for representing and investigating physical environments. They will be able to interact with different layers of remotely sensed data, as well as accompanying numerical and textual information, and use this information to further their understanding of polar landscapes through application to various activities.
