Transcript Climate Change - The Salty Life

January 14, 2013
Class : Table of contents: pg 9
Set up DSQs pgs. 16 and 17
Mini Assessment #1
Dendrochronology pg. 21
Tree Cookie Lab pg. 20
HW: Test Friday! Study!
What is the difference between
weather and climate? Pg. 15
Weather- the atmospheric conditions of a
specific (day to day) time period.
Climate- the average atmospheric conditions of
a region over a longer (30 years) period of
time.
Weather is wearing a sweater, climate is the
amount of sweaters you own. Or Climate is
what you expect, weather is what you get.
What is proxy data?
• This is data that is gathered using a
representative sample.
– Examples:
•
•
•
•
•
Ice cores
Tree Rings
Fossil Pollen
Ocean Sediments
Coral Reef
DSQ #1 pg. 16
Question: How do scientists use
tree rings to study climate
change? (pg 615)
Did you know??????????????
– Bole is another name for a tree
trunk!
– Dendrochronology is the study of
tree rings?
Pg. 20-21
• Pg. 20 : Tree Cookie
• Pg. 21: Dendrochronology
• The annual rings of a tree
can give scientists a
snapshot of the
environment. You might be
surprised by how much can
be told by looking at the
rings of a tree. Scientists
have identified:
– times of too much water
(floods),
– times of too little water
(drought),
– Lightening strikes,
– earthquakes,
– insect infestations,
– climate change.
Tree Growth History
1 light-colored ring + 1 dark-colored ring = 1 year.
This is called a "growth ring."
• Every year that a tree grows its trunk gets fatter. This is
because trees don't just grow up they grow out in the form of
rings too. The newest growth of a tree is between the bark
and the wood that grew the year before.
• In parts of the world with four seasons, trees usually grow
best in the spring. Some parts of the world only have two
seasons, wet and dry. In those areas, trees grow best in the
wet season.
• Wood that grows in the spring makes a light-colored ring.
• In the summer (or dry season) trees don't grow as much.
Wood that grows in the summer makes a dark-colored ring.
January 15, 2013
Class:
Table of Contents pg. 9
DSQ #2 pg. 16
Tree Cookie Lab pg. 20
Climate Notes pg. 19
HW:
Climate Test Friday!
Daily Science Question and Answer
(Write Question and Answer)
1/15/13 pg. 16
Question:
What is the difference between weather and
climate?
Answer:
What is the difference between
weather and climate?
Weather- the atmospheric conditions of a
specific (day to day) time period.
Climate- the average atmospheric conditions of
a region over a longer (30 years) period of
time.
Growth Rings
The growth rings in a tree
don't all look the same.
This is because climate and
other things going on in
the environment affect a
trees' growth. The
temperature, amount of
rain, what the soil is like,
wind, sunlight, amount of
snow on the ground and
insects all affect how a tree
grows. These things are
different from year to year.
Scientists Studying Growth Rings
• To study tree rings
scientists looks at
something called a "crosssection."
– By cutting right through a
tree. See all of the rings
from each year of the tree's
life. Just imagine looking
down at a stump of a tree.
• The tree's age can be
figured out by counting the
pairs of light and dark rings.
It's easier to see the dark
rings so they are usually
the ones used for counting.
Your Turn
• 1. Start with the first dark ring in the center and count out
to the last dark ring before the bark.
• 2. To help figure out what climate the tree grew in and
what the environment was like look at each ring:
– Thickness: How wide a ring is can tell you if the
environment was good or bad for the tree to grow
in. In years when the amount of rain and
temperature were good a tree's rings are wider. In
bad years a tree's rings are thinner.
– Shape: If rings start to become thinner on one
side than the other it probably means the tree is
leaning over to one side. High winds or a big storm
can cause a tree to lean.
– Strange marks, like scars, and other "pieces of
evidence." Scars can be left by insects or disease.
A forest fire can leave burnt marks.
Tree Cookie Lab
Predicted Age:
Observe the rings. How do they look? Do you
see a pattern? What do they tell us about the
tree?
Predicted Events Affecting the growth rate of
this tree (climate & environment it grew in,
pests, diseases? Fire?):
Compare your tree ring to another group. How
are they alike? How are they different?
Is it likely to be more important to sample trees
in the area that are quite old or ones that are
fairly young? Why?