This is a partially developed activity description. It is included in the collection because it contains ideas useful for teaching even though it is incomplete.
Initial Publication Date: June 11, 2008
Bring it home: Evidence of abrupt climate change
This activity was developed during the Teaching Climate Change Using Ice Core Data workshop, held in June 2008.
Contributors: Laurel Godell, Jeff Niemitz, Dallas Rhodes, Cathy Whitlock, Kathy Ellis
Topic: Abrupt climate change evidence from pollen and ice cores
Course level: Introductory
Description of activity:
- Learning the data proxy - learn basics of pollen (Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1650 A&B)
- Data base searching (NOAA Paleoclimatology home page (more info) and data access (more info) )
- Search for pollen sites that have the right time scale and good (responsive) records
- Download and plot data for top-15 types pollen.
- Print screen to have hard copy of graphs.
- Search for pollen sites that have the right time scale and good (responsive) records
- Download temperature data from Greenland cores and maybe Southern Hemisphere core
- Plot data (temperature against time) relative temperature
- Data analysis
- Compare timing of major temperature change with pollen record
- Look at abrupt changes in plant community
- Describe timing and magnitude of changes.
- Compare timing of major temperature change with pollen record
- Data interpretation and synthesis
- How fast does vegetation adjust to climate? 100 km per century
Learning goals and outcomes
- Locating data
- Learning plotting skills
- Interpreting the data
- Comparing two data sets.
- Synthesizing the data; comparison between two data sets
- Multiple records give us the same info
- Younger Dryas was a global event
- Some data sets don't show change
- Relationships between geographically separated areas
Assessment
Students will discuss results from variety of geographic locations
- Student realize the complexity of climate change and ecological response
- Describe a vegetation history by looking at a pollen diagram
- Know that a great quantity of data on climate change exists for locations around the world
Be able to describe in writing the larger implications of what they have learned.
- Expand time scale of understanding
- Know the timing and magnitude of abrupt climate change
- Have a context for the climate change that is occurring now.
