Each of these swirling clouds is a result of a meteorological phenomenon known as a Karman vortex. These vortices appeared over Alexander Selkirk Island in the southern Pacific Ocean. Rising precipitously from the surrounding waters, the island's highest point is nearly a mile (1.6 km) above sea level. As wind-driven clouds encounter this obstacle, they flow around it to form these large, spinning eddies. Image courtesy of USGS National Center for EROS and NASA Landsat Project Science Office.

Climate and Energy Webinar and Book Club Series

Note: This series has concluded. You can find presentations, screencast files and relevant materials on the page for each webinar session.

This was a monthly series delving into emerging topics in climate change and energy. These issues are evolving quickly and are constantly in the news, which is why our students find them to be relevant and interesting. On the other hand, keeping ourselves up to date becomes challenging. This monthly series explored the science of energy and climate, along with promising teaching approaches for these topics.

Schedule and Topics

Most sessions were at 10:00 am Pacific | 11:00 am Mountain | 12:00 pm Central | 1:00 pm Eastern and will last for one hour.

November 12 Webinar: Can Carbon Capture and Storage Clean up Fossil Fuels? - Geoff Thyne, University of Wyoming.

December 10 Book club: Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air, 2009, David MacKay
online version of this book | see this book at Amazon

January 21 Webinar: Misconceptions About Climate Change - Susan Buhr, University of Colorado

February 11 Book club:The Great Ocean Conveyor: Discovering the Trigger for Abrupt Climate Change, by Wallace Broecker
publisher's website | Google Books version of this book | see this book at Amazon

February 18 Webinar:A Climate Modeling Tutorial - by Cindy Shellito, University of Northern Colorado

March 11 Webinar: Engaging Students and Addressing Critical Thinking Skills via the Nuclear Debate - James D. Myers, University of Wyoming

April 8 Webinar: The Energy-Water nexus: A theme for interdisciplinary Earth Science inquiry- Steven Semken, Arizona State University
Note: this webinar began at 11 am Pacific | 12 pm Mountain | 1 pm Central | 2 pm Eastern and lasted for one hour.

May 13 Webinar: Developing a Semester-long Class Project on Natural Gas Exploration using the Jigsaw Method- Devin Castendyk, State University of New York, College at Oneonta

Format

Each event took place on a Friday - usually the 2nd Friday of the month.
Each event had its own registration, and participants could register for as many events as interested them.
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 am Pacific | 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Mountain | 12:00 - 1:00 pm Central | 1:00 - 2:00 pm Eastern

Platform

We used Elluminate for presentations, screen sharing, and instant chat.
Audio was through a conference call line.
Web support was through workspace web pages and a discussion board.