The Modern Atmospheric CO2 Record
This activity received a gold star rating from a Panel Peer Review
HideThis resource received a gold-star rating from a Panel Peer Review
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- scientific accuracy and currency
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- Accept with major revisions, or
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Following the panel meetings, the conveners wrote summaries of the panel discussion for each resource; these were transmitted to the creator, along with anonymous versions of the reviews. Relatively few resources were accepted as is. In most cases, the majority of the resources were either designated as 1) Reject or 2) Accept with major revisions. Resources were most often rejected for their lack of completeness to be used in a classroom or they contained scientific inaccuracies.
This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project
Students compare carbon dioxide (CO2) data from Mauna Loa Observatory , Barrow (Alaska) , and the South Pole over the past 40 years to help them better understand what controls atmospheric (CO2). This activity makes extensive use of Excel.
Learning Goals
- Become familiar with atmospheric CO2 fluctuations for three very different geographic locations (North pole, Tropics, and South Pole).
- Better understand what processes control atmospheric CO2 concentrations on an annual basis at different latitudes?
- Better understand what processes might explain the long-term trend in atmospheric CO2 concentration?
- Use and discuss data in tabular and graphical formats.
Context for Use
Appropriate activity for an introductory course in Earth's Climate, Meteorology or Atmospheric Science, Earth Systems Science, or Environmental Science. Students are expected to use Excel spreadsheet program and the activity assumes some knowledge regarding the use of Excel. The activity does provide an Excel help link for students with no prior excel experience.Teaching Materials
The Modern Atmospheric CO2 Record main page provides link to lab instructions, lab report format instructions, and Excel Help. The lab instructions also includes links to all required data along with other relevant resources. The sample images below compare atmospheric CO2 at Barrow (left) and South Pole (right).[click either image to enlarge]
Teaching Notes and Tips
This activity can be used as a lab or as a homework assignment. It takes students approximately 3 hrs to complete. Smaller segments of this activity along with individual images or Quick time animations could also be used for interactive lecture discussion. Introducing basic ideas in class before the assignment is important to help students get started. Students questions related to the completion of this activity help build student interest in classroom discussion.Assessment
Online teaching materials contain student activities that can help promote student learning. These activities can also be used to help assess student understanding of key idea and concepts.References and Resources
- The Modern Atmospheric CO2 Record lab activity provides good documentation for references and additional reading.
- For those interested here is an updated CO2 concentration file ( 13kB Jan27 04) for Mauna Loa, South Pole, and Barrow through 2002. Tab delimited text.
- Here's an animation of the annual cycle (January through December) in vegetation index ( 130kB Jan27 04) from NASA's Earth Observatory (more info) This can be used to help students understand the connection between CO2 fluctuations and the seasons.
- Here's an animation of the annual cycle (January through December) in Sea WiFS Ocean Chlorophyll ( 218kB Jan27 04) from NASA's Earth Observatory (more info) This can also be used to help students understand the connection between CO2 fluctuations and the seasons.
