Understanding Albedo
http://www.arcticclimatemodeling.org/lessons/acmp/acmp_912_ClimateChange_UnderstandingAlbedo.pdf
http://www.arcticclimatemodeling.org/lessons/acmp/acmp_912_ClimateChange_UnderstandingAlbedo.pdf
Geophysical Institute at University of Fairbanks
Activity takes about one class period. Additional materials are needed.
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Topics
Grade Level
Resource indicates that the appropriate grade level is 9-12. The reviewers thought that the activity is better suited for middle school.
Climate Literacy
About Teaching Climate Literacy
1a 
1aSunlight reaching the Earth can heat the land, ocean, and atmosphere. Some of that sunlight is reflected back to space by the surface, clouds, or ice. Much of the sunlight that reaches Earth is absorbed and warms the planet.
Other materials addressing 1a
The interconnectedness of Earth’s systems means that a significant change in any one component of the climate system can influence the equilibrium of the entire Earth system. Positive feedback loops can amplify these effects and trigger abrupt changes in the climate system. These complex interactions may result in climate change that is more rapid and on a larger scale than projected by current climate models.
Other materials addressing 2f
Energy Literacy
The energy of a system or object that results in its temperature is called thermal energy.
1.2 Thermal energy.
Energy is a physical quantity that follows precise natural laws.
Energy is a physical quantity.
Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines
1. Questioning, Analysis and Interpretation Skills:C) Collecting information
Other materials addressing:
C) Collecting information.
Other materials addressing:
C) Collecting information.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.1 The Earth as a Physical System:A) Processes that shape the Earth
Other materials addressing:
A) Processes that shape the Earth.
Other materials addressing:
A) Processes that shape the Earth.
2. Knowledge of Environmental Processes and Systems:2.1 The Earth as a Physical System:C) Energy
Other materials addressing:
C) Energy.
Other materials addressing:
C) Energy.
Benchmarks for Science Literacy
Learn more about the Benchmarks
Light and other electromagnetic waves can warm objects. How much an object's temperature increases depends on how intense the light striking its surface is, how long the light shines on the object, and how much of the light is absorbed.
If a system in equilibrium is disturbed, it may return to a very similar state of equilibrium, or it may undergo a radical change until the system achieves a new state of equilibrium with very different conditions, or it may fail to achieve any type of equilibrium.
Notes From Our Reviewers
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Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy |
Technical Details
Teaching Tips
- The educator should explain the limitations of the model because they are using a light bulb, which is different than the radiation from the Sun.
- The educator could conduct activity outdoors rather than using a 60W light bulb so as to avoid confusion between solar radiation and "heat."
About the Science
- The activity nicely illustrates the effect of albedo in a simple way.
- Using a lamp to simulate radiation from the sun may promote misconceptions such as: Higher albedo surfaces reflect more "heat." To prevent this, educators should clarify that this activity is an attempt to model the effect of different surface albedos. It does not represent the actual phenomenon.
- Useful part of activity: Educator discusses why the ice-albedo feedback effect is a positive feedback loop that could contribute to climate change.
- Comment from scientist: Be careful of the wording when explaining feedback loops: A positive feedback reinforces the initial change whichever direction. So using increases or decreases can be potentially confusing. Here it is worded correctly in the sense of increasing the effect of the system but students might still get confused, maybe use the word magnifies instead of increases and counteracts instead of decreases.
- Comment from scientist: Activity Procedure 3 - It's important to note that an increase in temperature can cause snow and ice to start melting earlier in the year. In fact, this is where the albedo effect plays a bigger role, because melt really gets going during late spring and early summer when the sun is strongest and, therefore, the effect of albedo is strongest. By the time snow and ice start to form, it is generally September or later and the sun is already on its way to setting in the Arctic. The later freeze-up is affected to some extent by the albedo, but a bigger effect, especially for sea ice in the ocean, is the surface has heated more and is too warm initially to form snow or ice.
- Be careful with the wording that is used in activity - "ice forms" but snow doesn't "form on the earth" it "falls."
- Background information might need to be supplemented by educator.
About the Pedagogy
- Students are encouraged to hypothesize before the experiment, but the procedure is step-by-step rather than open-ended.
Related URLs These related sites were noted by our reviewers but have not been reviewed by CLEAN
- The activity is from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) as part of the Alaskan Climate Modeling Program curriculum (ACMP). Unit information can be found at: http://www.arcticclimatemodeling.org/subject_climate_change.html.
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