Transcript Document

SC300: Big Ideas in Science
UNIT 2 SEMINAR
CLIMATE CHANGE:
GLOBAL WARMING
Evelyn I. Milian
Instructor
SC300: Big Ideas in Science – Unit 2 Seminar
Agenda
1. Discussion of unit 2 seminar topic:
Climate change
2. Science Center Tour – Last 15 minutes.
3. Question and answer session: if we have time
before the Science Center Tour, or we can go
back to the seminar room after the tour.
Course syllabus, assignments, grading, requirements.
* Students in sections with other instructors are also
invited to stay for this session; however, specific
questions about assignments or grading should
be addressed to your instructor.
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Seminar Readings Assigned
• National Climatic Data Center. National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administration. Global Warming: Frequently Asked Questions:
 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
• WGBH Educational Foundation. Greenland Ice Sheet: A Record
of Climate Change:
 http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/ess05_int_greenland/
• Teachersdomain.org. Clues from Past Climates:
 http://www.teachersdomain.org/assets/thinktv/ttv10/ttv10_i
nt_clues/index.html
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Climate Change
• Anthropogenic or human-caused climate change is a
topic frequently discussed within all fields of science as
well as by the media and general public. However,
those not part of the scientific investigations are likely
not aware of the various forms of evidence, both direct
and indirect that have identified climate change and its
likely causes.
• This is due in part to the unique forms of measurement
and monitoring that are not familiar to many, as well
as misunderstandings of how scientific data cannot
only be collected for current conditions but also those
dating back thousands, and even millions of years.
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Climate change can be studied as part of
Environmental Science.
• Environmental science is:
The systematic, scientific study of our environment
as well as our role in it.
An interdisciplinary area of study that includes both
applied and theoretical aspects of human impact on
the world.
• Environment:
The combination of all things and factors external
to an individual or population of organisms.
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Environmental Science
• The field of environmental
science involves an
understanding of scientific
principles, economic
influences, and political
action.
• Environmental decisions
often involve compromise.
A decision that may be
supportable from a
scientific or economic point
of view may not be
supportable from a political
point of view without
modification. Other
political decisions relating
to the environment may
not be supported by
economic analysis.
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Some Environmental Issues Associated with
Human Activities
• Climate change: global
warming, sea level rise
• Conservation: species
extinction, endangered
species, coral bleaching
• Energy conservation,
renewable energy
• Land degradation: land
pollution, land use, soil
degradation
• Pollution: air pollution,
land pollution, water
pollution
• Resource depletion:
exploitation of natural
resources – overconsumption, overfishing, deforestation,
mining
• Waste management
• Overpopulation
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Climate Change: Global Warming
• Global warming is a change in average global
temperature that could result from the temperature
increase owing to the greenhouse effect.
• The greenhouse effect is an increase in atmospheric
temperature caused by increasing amounts of carbon
dioxide and other gases that absorb and trap heat,
which normally radiates away from Earth.
 The greenhouse effect is a natural process essential for
life on Earth – it helps regulate the temperature of the
planet.
 It results from heat absorption by “greenhouse gases” in
the atmosphere (called so because they ‘trap’ heat in the
lower atmosphere) and re-radiation downward of some
of that heat.
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Climate Change: Global Warming
• Greenhouse gases include water vapor (the most
abundant), carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other halocarbons.
• These gases allow sunlight energy to pass through the
atmosphere but slow the loss of heat from the Earth’s
surface; similar to the action of glass in a greenhouse.
• “Without a natural greenhouse effect, the temperature
of the Earth would be about zero degrees F (-18°C)
instead of its present 57°F (14°C). So, the concern is
not with the fact that we have a greenhouse effect,
but whether human activities are leading to an
enhancement of the greenhouse effect by the emission
of greenhouse gases through fossil fuel combustion
and deforestation.” (NCDC, 2012)
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Greenhouse Effect. The greenhouse effect naturally warms the Earth’s surface. Without
it, Earth would be 33C (60F) cooler than it is today—uninhabitable for life as we know it.
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Principal Greenhouse Gases
• Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4),
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Nitrous oxide (N2O)
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Since the establishment of a carbon dioxide monitoring station at Mauna Loa
Observatory in Hawaii, a steady increase in carbon dioxide levels has been observed.
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Climate Change
• What types of
measurements
indicate that climate
change is occurring?
• How were these
measurements
collected?
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Climate Change
• What types of measurements indicate that climate change
is occurring?
 Amount of precipitation (rain, snow), atmospheric
pressure, humidity, sea level, temperatures
• The National Climatic Data Center contains the instrumental
and paleoclimatic records that can precisely define the
nature of climatic fluctuations at time scales of a century
and longer.” (NCDC, 2012) (NCDC is part of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
• Data platforms that the NCDC uses to collect the
measurements include:
 Ships, buoys, weather stations, weather balloons,
satellites, radar records, tree rings, ice cores, subsurface
ocean data.
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Clues From Past Climates
• http://www.teachersdomain.org/assets/thinktv/ttv10/
ttv10_int_clues/index.html
• “In order to understand how climates are changing
around the world, scientists need to know how they
have varied in the past.” (teachersdomain.org, 2012).
• Sources of data include:
 Instrumental data: barometers, thermometers,
hygrometers, etc. – Limited: Reliable instrumental
data only goes back 200-300 years.
 Indirect, or proxy, data: Cannot be obtained by
direct measurement but can be constructed, or
inferred, from other data:
• Tree rings, historical documents, coral record,
pollen data, cave formations, lake and sea shores.
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Climate Change
• What are some of the challenges associated with collecting
data over large periods of time (i.e., 100s of years)?
• How has technology enhanced our ability to collect the
data necessary to understand climate change?
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Climate Change Data
Temperatures are rising.
Sea levels are rising.
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Climate Change
• What additional data would be useful?
• What are the risks associated with waiting for
more data as well as reacting to incomplete data?
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Science Center Tour
• Last 15 minutes of seminar today.
• Link for tour site:
http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/kusc_tour/
• Log in as a “Guest” and include your full
name when doing so.
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References
•
Campbell, N. A.; Reece, J. B., et al. (2011). Campbell Biology. Ninth Edition.
San Francisco, CA: Pearson Education, Inc.-Pearson Benjamin Cummings.
•
Cunningham, W. P. and Cunningham, M. A. (2008). Environmental Science,
A Global Concern. Tenth Edition. NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
•
Enger, E. D. and Smith, B. F. (2010). Environmental Science, A Study of
Interrelationships. Twelfth Edition. NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
•
Mader, S. S. (2010). Biology. Tenth Edition. NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
•
National Climatic Data Center. National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administration. (2012). Global Warming: Frequently Asked Questions:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
•
Solomon, E.; Berg, L. and Martin, D. W. (2008). Biology. Eighth Edition. OH:
Cengage Learning.
•
Teachersdomain.org. (2012). Clues from Past Climates:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/assets/thinktv/ttv10/ttv10_int_clues/index.html
•
Trefil, J. and Hazen, R. M. (2011). The Sciences An Integrated Approach.
Sixth Edition. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
•
WGBH Educational Foundation. (2006). Greenland Ice Sheet: A Record of
Climate Change: http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/ess05_int_greenland/
•
Wright, R. T. (2008). Environmental Science. Tenth Edition. NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc.-Pearson Prentice Hall.
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