Discovering the Weddell Sea

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), in association with the Flotilla Foundation, is proud to present Discovering the Weddell Sea for teachers and secondary school students. This is a free, open-access digital education tool created to encourage learning of this most mysterious and remote Antarctic sea.

Discovering the Weddell Sea begins with a welcome page then, with a click of a button, allows you to access 5 further information pages. In these pages there are 20 pictures called snapshots — digital images of Antarctica and the Weddell Sea. Behind each snapshot there is a wealth of Antarctic information for you to access.

The Weddell Sea is a body of water off the Antarctic coastline. It is unpredictable, extremely cold and is covered in ice for large parts of the year. Many expeditions, some of them as recently as 2019, have experienced the dangers posed by marauding icebergs, shifting ice floes, open ocean currents and extreme weather. Yet the Weddell Sea is also a place of beauty with enormous ice features, spectacular sunsets, and an abundance of polar marine life. Increasingly it is a place of scientific intrigue and research.

The app consists of 5 pages designed to highlight the new opportunities and critical challenges facing the continent of Antarctica, with a special focus on the Weddell Sea. These 5 pages are titled: About Antarctica, Antarctic Tourism, Marine Life, Global Governance, and the Weddell Sea. Completion of the app will greatly enhance your knowledge of the sea and continent.

Snapshots can only be accessed by typing in a unique password, these passwords will be released through the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Instagram channel @rgs_ibg. You will have to access Instagram to discover the password before entering it into the app to release new educational content. Once all 20 snapshots have been unlocked, the app is complete.

Discovering the Weddell Sea has been created to incorporate key content from the A level and GCSE geography specifications. You will find key wording, familiar geographical language, and relevant topics of debate to learn about and discuss.

This resource could be used as a classroom activity, for enrichment learning or simply set as a long-term homework project. It is designed for simultaneous use with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Instagram channel @rgs_ibg.

The snapshots used are sourced from a variety of institutions with unique and wonderful photography archives. Key contributors are the British Antarctic Survey, the Scott Polar Research Institute, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and the Flotilla Foundation.

Many of these snapshots have never been released before. For more great content, updates and notifications please also follow @RGS_IBGschools on Twitter and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Instagram channel @rgs_ibg.