Below we’ve provided two diagrams of the ocean on a sunny day! The white layer represents surface ice.

Compare the two diagrams by clicking between the two diagrams.

A cartoon diagram of the sun reflecting 7% of light off of the water, and 93% of sunlight through the water. There is small amounts of ice on the water, with the majority of the water melted.
A cartoon diagram of the sun reflecting 86% of light off of the water, and 14% of sunlight through the water. The majority of the water is covered by sheets of ice.
Ice-Albedo-Melted-V2
Ice-Albedo-Frozen-V2.1
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THINK-PAIR-SHARE

Based on what you know about light, water, and climate change:

  1. What things do you see, observe, or notice in each of the diagrams? What is different between them? Be specific.
  2. What do you think is going on? Why?
  3. What else does it make you wonder?