Climate Literacy Catalog
This collection of web sites was developed in the Fall of 2008 by Mark S. McCaffrey of CIRES Education and Outreach as a "next step" toward a reviewed and annotated collection of "cream of the crop" high quality digital resources that support the Essential Principles of Climate Literacy. Building on experience gained through the development of the Climate Change Collection, the goal of this phase of the effort is to begin to assemble a catalog of online resources that in the near future will be reviewed i) for scientific accuracy and currency by science experts, ii) for ease of use and appropriateness in educational settings and iii) annotated with any suggestions, concerns or ideas for enrichment and extensions to the resource.
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Climate Literacy Principles
showing only The Nature of Science
Show all Climate Literacy Principles
Climate Literacy Principles Show all Climate Literacy Principles
- Weather and Climate Predictability 4 matches A. Climate science is based on the assumption that Earth's climate
- Weather/Climate Differences 4 matches B. Our understanding of climate differs in important ways from our understanding of weather. Thus, climate scientists' ability to predict climate patterns months, years, or even decades into the future is not constrained by the limitations meteorologists face in forecasting weather on much shorter timescales (days to weeks into the future).
- Observational Data 19 matches C. We gain understanding of climate and how it has changed over time from observational data from weather stations, buoys, satellites, radars, ice and ocean sediment cores, tree rings, cave deposits, native knowledge, and other sources.
- Computer Models 8 matches D. Observations, experiments, and theory used to construct and refine computer models and develop scientific explanations lead to better understanding of the linkages between the atmosphere-ocean system and how it relates to the overall climate system's behavior. As a result, more reliable projections of future climate changes will develop over time.
- Our Understanding of Climate 5 matches E. Fundamental characteristics of the climate system have been researched and are understood well enough to make reasonably accurate predictions about the climate system and, therefore, to support decision making, even though research continues into many aspects of climate change.
The Nature of Science
12 matches General/OtherResults 1 - 20 of 38 matches
NGCD Web Image Slide Trays part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This website hosts a Web Image Slide Tray (WIST) designed by NGDC. A WIST is fundamentally an HTML table where the contents of each cell depend upon variables that are set in the row and column ...
Climate Modeling part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This site from Carleton College features an introduction to modeling earth�s climate system using STELLA. Topics covered include basic concepts and processes of the earth�s climate system, model ...
Modeling Earth's Temperature part of SERC Web Resource Collection
In this activity students use the STELLA program to create hierarchies of models of increasing complexity to understand the absorption of solar energy by the Earth and its radiation of that energy ...
Atmosphere-Ocean Model part of SERC Web Resource Collection
The Atmosphere-Ocean Model is a computer program that simulates the Earth's climate in three dimensions on a gridded domain. The model requires that the user enter two kinds of input, specified ...
US Climate Change Science Program part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This site provides information on the Climate Change Science Program which integrates federal research on climate and global change, as sponsored by thirteen federal agencies. Links are provided to ...
The Discovery of Rapid Climate Change part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This article from the American Institute of Physics discusses the evolution of scientific views about global climate change. The history of this evolution gives a good example of the stepwise fashion ...
Differences Between Climate and Weather part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This activity will provide students with first hand knowledge of local weather changes and how they relates to local climates. After this activity students will understand the general distinctions ...
Time and Cycles: Dendrochronology part of SERC Web Resource Collection
In this activity, students will use pre-marked paper strips to simulate tree-ring core samples to help them understand that data for past climate changes can be gathered from sources beyond long-term ...
Ocean Surface Topography From Space part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This site provides information on the many aspects of the study of the sea surface from space. Measuring the ocean surface topography provides information for studying global ocean circulation and ...
Water Vapor Protocol part of SERC Web Resource Collection
The purpose of this activity is to measure the total precipitable water vapor (column water vapor) in the atmosphere above an observer's site. Students point a GLOBE/GIFTS water vapor instrument at ...
On the Shoulders of Giants - Milutin Milankovitch part of SERC Web Resource Collection
Milutin Milankovitch formulated a comprehensive mathematical model that calculated latitudinal differences in solar radiation upon the Earth's surface and the corresponding surface temperatures for ...
Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2: A Record of Climate Change part of SERC Web Resource Collection
In this activity, students learn about efforts to study Earth's climatic history for the last 250,000 years by drilling into the Greenland Ice Sheet and examining ice cores. They will answer ...
The Climate Time Machine Activity: Using Fossil Pollen to Study Climate Change part of SERC Web Resource Collection
In this activity, students use real data on fossil pollen from a lake in Washington State to study climate change. Working in teams, they separate simulated pollen grains from 'sediment samples,' ...
Vital Climate Graphics part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This collection of graphic images, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations, provides visual information on climate change issues that makes it possible to ...
Planet Under Pressure part of SERC Web Resource Collection
Planet Under Pressure is a six-part British Broadcasting Company (BBC) News Online series looking at some of the most pressing environmental issues facing the human race today. The series takes a ...
Ice Cores Teacher's Guide part of SERC Web Resource Collection
In this activity, students will learn how and why scientists drill ice cores in Greenland. They will use this knowledge to create an ice core that demonstrates how natural and human factors affect ...
Diurnal Temperature Changes and Water Vapor Content part of SERC Web Resource Collection
In this activity, students will examine data for air temperature and dewpoint temperature for two different days at the same station to understand how moisture in the air affects the diurnal ...
Water Vapor Circulation on Earth part of SERC Web Resource Collection
Water vapor plays an important role in the water cycle and in the distribution of heat around the planet. By observing the movement of water vapor, scientists can study global wind patterns and the ...
MY NASA DATA Contributed Lesson 11: Seasonal Cloud Cover Variations part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This lesson is designed to help students gain knowledge in using the MY NASA DATA Live Access Server (LAS) to specify and download a microset of data, then to use the data to determine the seasonal ...
" + theTitle + " part of SERC Web Resource Collection
This interactive map and database allows users to access paleoclimate data from around the world. Users can choose the type of paleoclimate data (e.g. treerings, fire history, etc) and the location ...

