CLIMATE SCIENCE BASICS ONLINE TUTORIAL MODULE

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http://www.pics.uvic.ca/insights/

    Introduction

    Module 1 "Climate Science Basics" is the first module of a short-course series titled Climate Insights 101 that has been developed by the Pacific Insititue for Climate Solutions.  (Note that this institue is located in British Columbia, Canada and occasionally the tutorial will refer to locations in "BC" to illustrate a point.)

    To begin . . .  View the INTRODUCTION.  <=== click here and go through items 10-17 in the Introduction before moving on to I-1 (Lesson 1) below.  (If you like, feel free to go through the entire Introduction to learn more about the people who developed this module.)

    I-1  Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect (Lesson 1)

    By the end of this lesson, participants will be able to:

    • explain the greenhouse effect and its global impact
    • name and describe the relative importance of each of the major greenhouse gases
    • describe how “water vapour feedback” impacts global warming, and
    • explain the difference between incoming solar and outgoing infrared radiation

    Click here to take: LESSON 1    (lesson takes about 25 minutes)

     1-1 ASSIGNMENT (worth 5 pts)

           --- Write a paragraph that answers the question below

          ---  Save your document in any one of the following formats:   PDF,  doc or docx

          ---  Submit your document to the I-1 Dropbox  in D2L before the deadline

    Dropbox Deadline is:   Mon Oct 22 @ 30 minutes before class begins

     QUESTION:   We’ve covered a lot of the material in Lesson 1 already in this class, but there are a few new  things in the lesson that expand  upon some of our class material, or address aspects we haven’t discussed.

    Describe and explain one new idea, fact or concept that was covered  in either the Introduction or Lesson 1 that you didn’t know before,  were unclear about, or which gave you a new or deeper insight about something you already knew.  In your answer . . . .

    ·         Accurately describe what you learned

    ·         Include a quote from the lesson that is related to this insight

                Hint:  To transcribe a quote, click on the NOTES button to see the script for a slide:  


    ·         Explain how this idea, fact or concept is important for understanding  global change

     

    I-2 Mother Nature's Influence (Lesson 2)

    By the end of this lesson participants should be able to:

    • discuss the impact on the climate from changes in the earth’s orbit, volcanic eruptions and El Niño/La Niña effects
    • explain the importance of ice core samples for determining the history of climate, and
    • explain why it is not the Sun and changes in its output that are responsible for temperature trends over recent decades

    Click here to take LESSON 2    (lesson takes about 32 minutes)

    1-2 ASSIGNMENT (worth 10 pts)

          ---   Write two paragraphs to answer the questions below (one paragaph for each question)

           ---   Save your document in any one of the following formats:   PDF,  doc or docx

               ---   Submit your document to the I-2 Dropbox  in D2L before the deadline

    Dropbox Deadline is:  Mon Oct 29 @ 30 minutes before class begins

    QUESTION 1:

    The first part of Lesson 2 addresses information about past climate that can be determined from ice cores. Although we haven’t covered much about ice cores in class lectures, you read about them back in Chapter 1 in the SGC E-Text and there was a question about them in the Practice Self Test for Chapter 1.  In SGC, the CO2  in ice cores is discussed on pp 4-5 and the linkage between glacial and interglacial cycles and the Vostok ice core is discussed on pp 15-16. Re-read these two sections in SGC and study Figure 1-3 (p 5).  Then review items 4 -11 in the Lesson 12 tutorial and answer the following question about ice cores:

    What does a comparison of the CO2 and temperature evidence found in ice cores and the CO2 evidence revealed by the Keeling Curve tell us about natural vs. anthropogenic impacts on climate?

    Hint: You can review the Keeling Curve in Lesson 1, Item 4.

    QUESTION 2:   (see "Stella's example" below to give you an idea of how to answer this tupe of question.)

    Describe and explain something you learned from the tutorial that YOU think is the most important insight the lesson 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.

    Stella's example:   From Lesson 2 I learned that when certain volcanoes erupt, aerosols are produced that are able to reflect incoming solar radiation and this can lead to short-term global cooling.  Furthermore, according to SGC  p 299, the aerosols that can do this are "sulfate aerosols" that  form from SO2 gas when it is ejected into the lower stratosphere by an explosive eruption. 


    ·         Include a quote from Lesson 2 that is related to this insight


          Stella's example:  "Not all eruptions affect climate . . . .There are many others that occur from time to time . . . that do not affect the climate because they do not eject material into the stratosphere." (from Item 14)

    ·         Explain why you think this is such an important insight about global change

           Stella's example:  I think this is an important insight about global change because it illustrates that there are natural processes that lead to global cooling, but to be effective climatically, an eruption has to be of a certain type and explosive enough to eject material into the stratosphere.  Therefore, to explain the reasons for a global change in climate, multiple aspects of the process must be understood  well enough to know when that process might cause a climate change and when it might not.

     

 

    I-3 Observable Changes (Lesson 3)

    In this lesson participants will come to understand how change is occurring worldwide because of our actions and be able to provide concrete examples of what climate change looks like. These observations include:

    • evidence of melting alpine glaciers
    • changes in the seas in the form of Arctic sea ice loss, and
    • a warming ocean, rising sea level, and in addition, progressive acidification of the ocean, a serious side-effect of carbon dioxide addition to the atmosphere

    Click here to take LESSON 3  (lesson takes about 16 minutes)

    I-3 ASSIGNMENT (worth 10 pts)

                --   Write two paragraphs to answer the questions below (one paragaph for each question)

           ---   Save your document in any one of the following formats:   PDF,  doc or docx

               ---   Submit your document to the I-3 Dropbox  in D2L before the deadline

    Dropbox Deadline is:  Mon Nov 3rd @ 30 minutes before class begins

     QUESTION 1:

    This lesson covers several observable changes that show the Earth is warming, including how this warming contributes to the processes that lead lead to SEA LEVEL RISE.  

    From the following list, select the process OR processes that contribute to SEA LEVEL RISE and explain exactly how the rise in sea level is produced by the process(es) you have selected. 
    (HINT: you should be selecting more than one process from the list.)

    (a)  melting of alpine and continental glaciers
    (b)  melting of sea ice
    (c)  increase in heat content of the ocean
    (d)   ice-albedo feedback

    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 3 Tutorial that YOU think is the most important insight that LESSON 3 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 3 that is related to this insight

     

         

    ·         Explain why you think this is such an important insight about global change

        

     

    I-4 Introduction to Climate Modelling  (Lesson 4)

    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

    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

           ---   Save your document in any one of the following formats:   PDF,  doc or docx

               ---   Submit your document to the I-4 Dropbox  in D2L before the deadline

    Dropbox Deadline is:  Mon Nov 12th -- Veteran's Day -- no class, so submit before midnight 


    QUESTION 1 (a - d): 

    This lesson covers climate models and their results.  The first part describes climate models and how they compute their results. It also covers some material we addressed in class under Topic 14 (i.e., some of the graphs discussed in Section 8 of the lesson were presented in class on Nov 16).  So this will be a good review.

    The lesson also covers the IPCC scenario results we discussed in class on Nov 21 under Topic 15 (see Section 10 and following of the Lesson 4 Tutorial).   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