Transcript CO2 and Temp ppt

Teaching about
CO2, Temperature, and Climate Change
Beth Caissie 1, 2
with collaboration from Julie Brigham-Grette1, Laura Schofield3,
Christina Ciarametaro3, and Mort Sternheim1
1
UMass Amherst Geosciences and STEM Ed Institute; 2 Iowa State University; 3
Ipswich Middle School
June 2012
CO2 and Temperature—What is Normal?
• Concepts to Address before you begin
– Climate vs. Weather
– Greenhouse Gasses
– The Carbon Cycle
• Play the game?
• Photosynthesis and Decomposition
• The Role of the Oceans
• Concepts to grasp During the Activity
– How much of a change in CO2 concentration and other
GHGs is natural?
– What is the normal range of CO2 and temperature
variability? How is normal defined in this context?
– What is the relationship between CO2 and global
temperatures?
The Carbon Cycle
IPCC. Climate Change 2007: Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis;
Figure modified from Sarmiento and Gruber, 2006
Play the Carbon Cycle Game!
• Go to your assigned station
• Roll the Die
• Move (or don’t move) according to the sheet
at your station
• Record what happened for EACH roll of the
die on your Itinerary
• When you’ve rolled the die 10 times, come
up and record your trip on the board.
What causes this change in annual Carbon dioxide?
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
Seasonal changes cause up/downs in CO2 in the atmosphere
Especially driven by Northern Hemisphere.
Spring - photosynthesis drops CO2,
Fall - decomposition causes increase in CO2
Monitoring of
CO2 and other
Greenhouse
gases around
the world
All get similar
measurements
Why?
Thermal drilling on Quelccaya, 2003
Drilling in Greenland
Video podcast
from Polar
Palooza
http://passporttoknowledge.com/polar-palooza/pp09a.php
Matt Nolan, UAF
Fossil air!
Summit Station, Greenland photo by
Michael Morrison, GISP2 SMO, University of
New Hampshire; NOAA Paleoslide SetCore:
Eric Cravens, Assistant Curator, U.S. National
Ice Core Laboratory;
Trapped in
the ice;
records past
atmosphere
Raynaud, 1992
Gases within bubbles = fossil atmospheric air
Firn-ice transition
• Depth of transition depends on surface
temperature and accumulation rate
• Camp Century, Greenland:
~68 m below ice sheet surface
• Vostok, Antarctica:
~100 m below ice sheet surface
Low precip. and cold =
long time to make ice
High precip. and warm =
short time to make ice
Activity
• Students plot subset of either
temperature or CO2 data from
Vostok
• Compile individual plots into 1
record
• Overlay Temperature on CO2
Analysis
• Define cyclicity of CO2 and
temperature (amplitude,
frequency)
• Define “Normal” range of
variability
• Understand the relationship
between GHG and temperature.
Forcing the Ice Ages:
Milankovitch Cycles
http://deschutes.gso.uri.edu/~rutherfo/milankovitch.html
Oxygen (8 protons)
16O
17O
18O
99.8% 0.04%
0.2%
Hydrogen (1 proton)
1H
99.98%
2H (Deuterium)
3H (tritium)
0.016%
(bombs)
So, can make 9 isotopic combinations of H2O,
e.g.,
18 (1H216O) to 22 (2H218O)
“light water”
“heavy water”
In paleoclimate studies…1H1H16O to 1H218O
General Equation:
 18O =
18O/16O
sample - 18O/16O standard x 1000
18O/16O standard
Expressed in per mille (0/00)
Negative values = lower ratios = isotopically lighter
(less 18O than 16O)
Positive values = higher ratios = isotopically heavier
(more 18O than 16O)
18O isotopic depletion
-20
-30
-40
Ice Sheet
-10
ocean
-50
0
In Sea
Glacials =
enriched 18O
Interglacials = depleted 18O
In Ice
depleted 18O
enriched 18O
D isotopic depletion
depends on temp of source area,
Distance and processes during precipitation
Ice Sheet
ocean
Isotopic ratios are used to model temperature, at
Vostok; empirically this is roughly:
Temperature (deg-C) = -55.5 + (δD + 440) / 6
http://eesc.columbia.edu/courses/ees/climate/labs/vostok/
See also http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/gctext/Inquiries/Inquiries_by_Unit/Unit_8a.htm