I-4 Introduction to Climate Modelling
(Lesson 4)
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By the end of this lesson, participants will
be able to:
- describe what climate models are in
general terms
- describe how climate models are used to
understand climate change in the past, and
- discuss what climate change projections
tell us about the need for adaptation and the climatic
impact on emissions reductions
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Click here to take
LESSON 4
(lesson takes about 35 minutes)
I-4
ASSIGNMENT (worth 10 pts)
-- Answer Question 1 (parts
a,b,c & d) and then write a paragraph to answer
Question 2
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Submit your document to the I-4 Dropbox
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Dropbox Deadline is: Monday Nov
19th
before midnight (11:59 pm)
QUESTION
1 (a - d):
This lesson covers climate models and their
results. The first part describes climate models and how
they compute their results.
In part 10 of Lesson 4 ("SRES Emissions
Scenarios") the tutorial covers the IPCC
scenarios. These scenarios are also addressed in Class Notes Topic
#16 (see
p 89) and in the Dire Predictions text on pp 86-87.
[You read about these scenarios earlier in Chapter
15 of the E-Text (on pp 309-310 and in Fig 15-8). However
in the
E-Text, the B1 scenario is labeled "low," A1B is labeled
"medium", and A2 is labeled "high".]
,After viewing the entire lesson, answer the following
questions:
(a) Which Emissions Scenario (B1, A12,
or A2) is the pathway closest to the one the world
currently
appears to be following?
(b) For the scenario you selected in
(a), in the year 2100 how much is temperature projected to
increase compared to the temperature of the late 20th century?
(answer in deg C)
(c) Based on the
projected A1B scenario precipitaion map shown in
Lesson 4, how is precipitation projected to change in winter
(Dec-Jan-Feb) in northern Mexico and
Southwestern U.S? (e.g. will it increase, decrease, or stay about the
same?) How well do the models agree on this
projection?
(d) Will some parts of North America
benefit agriculturally under future projections
or is it all bad news? Give an example to illustrate your
answer, based on Lesson 4.
QUESTION 2:
(see "Stella's example"
given in LESSON 2 to give
you an idea of how to answer this tupe of question.)
Describe and explain
something new that you learned from the LESSON 4 Tutorial that
YOU think is the
most important insight that
LESSON 4
reveals about global climate change.
In your paragraph
. . . .
·
Accurately describe
the global change
processes
involved in this insight.
Add any additional information you may have learned that
relates to the process to show you are making connections.
·
Include a
quote from Lesson
4 that is related to this insight
·
Explain
why you think this is such an important insight
about global change
