Global Climate
Navigate to the NASA – Classroom of the Future site on Global Climate Change at http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/climate/GCmain.html.
Click on the first puzzle piece, labelled Global Climate Change. Read the webpage and answer the following questions.
1. How is the global greenhouse effect different from the way an actual greenhouse works?
2. The reading indicates that long-term climate change is a natural part of the Earth cycle. Why is short-term climate change, like that we are now experiencing, such a concern?
3. This graph, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shows global temperature change (?°F) from 1861 to 1996. Is this graph showing average global temperature or the change in average global temperature? How can you tell?
4. What is the general trend that the graph is following?
At the bottom of this webpage, click on the “Human Influences” tab. Read the webpage and answer the following questions.
5. Which gases contribute to the greenhouse effect?
6. Which gas has the largest influence on the greenhouse effect?
7. Use external resource(s) to briefly explain why the gas in question 6 has the largest influence on the greenhouse effect. Cite your sources.
At the bottom of this webpage, click on the “Impacts” tab. Read the webpage and answer the following questions.
8. What are the six major venues the website lists that will be affected by climate change?
9. Choose one of the six from question 8 and explain how climate change will affect it.
Navigate to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s website on the impacts of climate change in the northeastern US (including Maryland) at: https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange_.html. Read this webpage and answer the following questions.
10. In the northeastern US, between 1895 and 2011, temperatures have risen on average by how many degrees?
11. Predictions for temperature increases by the 2080’s range from __________________________.
12. What are three possible impacts on human health with continued climate change in the northeastern US?
13. Under the ‘Precipitation and Sea Level Rise Impacts’ section, examine the graph and report on how many feet sea level has risen along the coast near Philadelphia from 1901 to 2012?
14. What are the concerns with sea level rise near the major northeastern cities?
15. List and describe two impacts on agriculture in the northeast due to climate change.
16. Climate change does not just lead to higher global temperatures (global warming). What other variables in climate are likely to experience change (look in the Impacts on Agriculture section and think about precipitation, drought, ocean temperatures, etc)?
17. Reflect on what you have read for this activity, and talked about in class. Do you feel your understanding of global climate change is the same or different now? Comment briefly (1-2 sentences) on why your thinking either stayed the same or changed.
