Transcript Document
Briefing for Teachers Global Warming In the event of an alarm sounding… What you need to know first… Electricity Electromagnetic waves Atoms Heat This Talk… • The problem of scale – The numbers are overwhelming • The big question – What determines the surface temperature of the Earth? • The carbon cycle – It’s a natural process: What’s the problem? • Should we be concerned? – Three main reasons • What’s going to happen next? – Good Question What are your concerns? Please write down one question or comment Then get some tea, and come back for a discussion This talk • Download these talks from www.protonsforbreakfast.com/gwb General Links • Excellent guide from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology(Superb guide (pdf format) going one step beyond the generalities 5.6 Mb 78 pages in lovely colour!) • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(UN Body whose pronouncements on this subject are deemed authoritative) • East Anglia University(Climate Change Unit from where you can download actual data and plot your own graphs!) Climate Models • EdGCM(Educational Global Circulation Model: Written by NASA scientists and pretty impressive. Runs on Mac or PCs) • Climate Prediction (Lots of information plus the chance to run a climate model on your PC as a screensaver) • The Hadley Centre (Met Office Centre for Climate Modelling: World leader in its field) • BBC News Story (Story about a new climate model) Ice and Glaciers • World Glacier Monitoring Service(Lots of very technical data about glaciers) • The US National Snow and Ice Data Center (Lots of data about the extent of sea ice and other arctic conditions) • BBC News Story (Recent story about the loss of Arctic ice) • Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (With measurements of the Greenland Ice Sheet thickness) • Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (Study relating to stability of the North Atalatic Drift (aka Gulf Stream)) Background (1) • Wikipedia(Wikipedia is an on-line collective encyclopedia: results are usually interesting, but treat data with caution because entries are not refereed: search on global warming) • Planetary data(Data about the planets) • NASA's Earth Observatory(Look and learn: Visually stunning and well documented site) • ESA's Earth Observatory(ESA can do whatever NASA can) • BBC community action(Get involved) • Lots of good background(The BBC's Climate change pages) • Informative ‘Green’ site(A 'green' site) Background (2) • Worldwatch site(A site with a worldwide ecological remit) • Japanese Summer Clothing Iniative (The kind of small thing which makes a difference if we all do it) • Lots of information (A slightly eclectic collection of basic data about a number of issues) • George Monbiot and David Bellamy Dialogue(Search for 'Bellamy' whenyou reach the sit: a curious exchange!) • Interesting article about surface temperature measurement (The 'Greening Earth Society' takes an interesting perspective on this debate which is distinctly American) • CO2 Science(Problem? What Problem?) • BBC News Story (About the important role of water vapour (humidity) in climate)