1) What is the difference between weather and climate?
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/climateweather.html
A) Weather
B) Climate
2) How can we find out about Climate Change over the last
300,000 years if there are no written records?
A)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/warnings/stories/
3) What “clues” (particles from the atmosphere) are found in ice
cores?
A)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/warnings/stories/
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
Click on the ice core
at the top of the Stories in Ice
to go directly to the TIMELINE.
NEXT…Click on AIR POLLUTION
1900
4) ____________________ trapped in ice cores show the dramatic
impact that human activities have had on the planet since the
____________________
____________________.
5) What do coal fired power plants and volcanic eruptions add to
the atmosphere? ___________________________
6) The large spikes at 1, 2, and 3 are attributed to
____________________
____________________
____________________ around the turn of the century.
NEXT…Click on CLIMATE CHANGE 12,000
BP
7) Global climate can change GRADUALLY or WITH FRIGHTENING
SPEED?
8) The last glacial period was giving way to our current warm
“interglacial” period when…
Average temperatures plunged about __________ in possibly
less than __________ years.
This 1300 year dip returned – just as abruptly – to the
warming trend.
NEXT…Click on TEMPERATURE 25,000 BP
Look at the graph of estimated temperature.
The ice core from this time period is telling us…
9) What was the average temperature 20,000 – 40,000 years ago?
10) What happened to temperatures since 20,000 years ago?
NEXT…Click on VOLCANIC ACTIVITY 73,000 BP
11) Violent caldera eruptions can drastically alter global
climate because they spew ____________________ and ____________________ ____________________ into the atmosphere.
12) How do these two things drastically alter global climate? By
____________________ ____________________
and ____________________
____________________ worldwide.
NEXT…Click on GLOBAL WARMING
160,000 BP
13) Do the graphs of methane (green), temperatures (red) and
carbon dioxide (blue) have a similar shape?
14) What happened to the graphs at about 138,000 years ago?
15) This means that there were ____________________ levels of
carbon dioxide and methane.
16) What are the graphs showing about temperatures in our time
period?
17) Do we have increasing level of carbon dioxide and methane
today?
18) How many feet of ice did it take to go back 160,000 years
ago?
19) What has happened to Earth’s
temperature over the last 100 years?
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/gw.html
20) How does latitude affect climate? (use sun’s rays in your answer)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/factfiles/basics/earthsun_energy.shtml
A)
21) How do large bodies of land affect the air that flows above them?
A)
22) How do large bodies of water affect the weather and climate?
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/climatesys.html
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/clisci.html Go to the bottom of the page
Oceans cover __________ of the planets surface.
Their ability to ____________________ and ____________________ heat make them a major driver of the weather and the climate.
23) How do large bodies of water affect the air that flows above them?
A) If the water is warm then the air above the water will be ____________________.
B) If the water is cool then the air above the water will be ____________________.
C) When oceans affect the air above them then they affect our weather and _______________.
24) If we look at climate through the powers of ten…
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/ Click on the TIMELINE for each Period
A) In one day (24 hours) our weather is determined by the ____________________ of the earth.
B) In one year (100 year) our weather is determined by the ____________________ of the earth.
C) In ten years (101 years) our climate is most influenced by the ____________________.
D) In one hundred years (102 years) our climate is again influenced by oceans but also by ___________________ ____________________.
25) Compare land and water in terms of their heating up rate and cooling down rate.
CREDIT FOR THE NEXT PARAGRAPH.
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1994/5/94.05.10.x.html
Ocean Currents: Bodies of water do not heat up as quickly as bodies of land. Over the period of summer, bodies of water become warmer and warmer. Bodies of water main- tain their heat longer than bodies of land. In the winter the ocean is warmer than the land.
FASTER SLOWER FASTER LONGER KEEP LOSE
A) Oceans heat up ____________________ than land.
B) Land heats up ____________________ than oceans.
C) Oceans ____________________ their heat ____________________ than land.
D) Land ____________________ its heat ____________________ than oceans.
26) What affect do the varying mountain elevations have on the climate of a mountain?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/factfiles/basics/climate_cold.shtml
scroll down to Mountain Climates
A)
27) What affect does mountain barriers have on climate?
· The next resource has a TON of information so I cut and pasted the relevant paragraph.
EFFECTS OF TOPOGRAPHY ON CLIMATE – The easternmost mountain chains form a barrier that protects much of California from the extremely cold air of the Great Basin in winter. There are occasions when cold air from an extensive high pressure area spreads westward and southward over California. Even in these cases the warming by compression as the air flows down the slopes of the mountains into the valleys results in considerable moderation of temperatures. The ranges of mountains to the west offer some protection to the interior from the strong flow of air off the Pacific Ocean. As a result, precipitation is heavy on the coastal or western side of both the Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada and lighter on the eastern slopes. Precipitation is also slightly reduced at the highest elevations of the Sierra Nevada because the range extends above the level of maximum transport of the moisture laden winds from the Pacific.
· GIVING CREDIT http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/CALIFORNIA.htm
A) DRAW a mountain with an ocean on the west (left side). The west (left side) of the mountain will be wetter and greener (as air rises, it cools and the moisture in the air will precipitate out. The east (rightside) of the mountain will be drier.
28) What are the global air circulation patterns?
Study this picture first.
http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/weather/adptcty/globcirc.html
Here is a similar diagram with a few more labels. Click on VIEW THIS ILLUSTRATION.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/factfiles/basics/atmo_globalcirculation.shtml
Here is another set of diagrams. Scroll Down
A)
29) Explain what El Nino / La Nina does to the weather?
· http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/clisci10.html
A) FIRST: What does ENSO stand for?
B) Now what is this climate phenomenon?
C) Now read ENSO’s Twin Pulses. The twin pulses are the pattern of
D) El Nino stands for ocean ____________________.
E) La Nina stands for ocean ____________________.
Now look carefully at the pictures for El Nino / Normal / La Nina conditions over the ocean.
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/nino_normal.html#nino
F) Does the precipitation pattern over each of the pictures look the same?
G) Will rainfall in the US be the same if we are in an El Nino or a La Nina condition?
30) How do ocean currents affect the climate?
· Scroll down to the section titled CLIMATE
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean
A)
31) What does volcanic dust do to the atmosphere and how does that affect the weather/climate?
· READ the first four paragraphs.
· http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/az/alphabet64.shtml
A)
32) What does the greenhouse effect do to climate?
· Really NEAT graphic
· http://www.grida.no/climate/vital/03.htm
A)
33) ICE is very _______________________, so lots of solar radiation gets sent back into _______________. http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/climatesys.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/factfiles/basics/earthsun_energy.shtml
34) What do ice ages do to the climate?
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/history.html
A) (mastadons)
B) (little ice age)
HOW HAVE HUMANS HAD AN IMPACT ON THE CLIMATE?
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/change.html
35) Because of the Industrial Revolution, we have added ___________ ___________ to our atmosphere. This has had an affect on the _________________________
36) Because we clear land for _________________ _________________, this has affected the _________________________.
37) Cutting down rain forests to use the land for agricultural or other uses is called ________________________
38) What are the two ways that this leads to global warming?
A)
B)
C) HINT: Look at the definition of deforestation on the EPA site.
Ground Surface Cover EX: land, water, ice, buildings
39) Remember that the usual flow of wind patterns in the United States if from the _______________ to the __________________. Atlanta, GA is a very big city with lots of buildings, roads(concrete) that would __________ __________ the air above the city. We would expect that as that air moves east to a more vegetation covered area that it would __________ __________. As this air cools down there would be a tendency for the land east of Atlanta, GA to have more __________________.
40) NOW – your final job is to summarize what you have learned.
A) Make a list of the many things that affect the climate.
41) Which of these climate factors have humans had an influence on?
42) What can we as humans do to prevent/ slow down our affects on the climate?