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Download a zip file that includes all the web pages and downloadable files from the student materialsFor the Instructor
These student materials complement the Earth's Thermostat Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.Student Materials
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Welcome Students!
Climate change is one of the most critical issues facing society today, and understanding the underlying solar, atmospheric, cryospheric, and oceanic processes governing Earth's climate are an essential component of climate change literacy. Our module is designed to help you understand Earth's energy balance and climate, its sensitivity to changes in its drivers, and how it interacts with Earth's other systems with interactive student centered activities which are designed to engage you in scientific exploration of data and model results.
Here's what you will need for each unit:
Unit 1
What's happening with Earth's temperature? Is it really changing? Is this because of changes in the Sun, or is there some other reason behind the temperature patterns we see?
In this unit you will use data from NASA to see how Earth's temperature has changed since measurements began in 1880. You will also analyze a record of solar irradiance to investigate if changes in incoming solar radiation are behind the temperature pattern you observed.
Materials used:
- Temperature Anomaly (PDF) (Acrobat (PDF) 17kB Sep22 16)
- Solar Irradiance (Acrobat (PDF) 31kB Feb16 15)
- Unit 1, Part 1: Analyzing Temperature Data (Word) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 35kB Sep13 16) and Unit 1, Part 1: Analyzing temperature data (PDF) (Acrobat (PDF) 370kB Sep13 16)
- Unit 1 Homework (Word) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 84kB Aug29 16) and Unit 1 Homework (PDF) (Acrobat (PDF) 404kB Aug29 16)
- Unit 1 Powerpoint (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 11MB Nov4 16)
If you're interested in learning more about temperature measurements like the ones used here, you might enoy the following article from Wired, which explains how temperature data are collected: How We Know 2014 Was the Hottest Year, by Marcus Woo. Note that this article is out of date, since 2015 has now surpassed 2014 as the hottest year, and 2016 is on pace to outpace both!
Unit 2
How does the atmosphere influence radiation as it enters and leaves the Earth system? What is the greenhouse effect, and why might we be concerned about changes in greenhouse gases on Earth?
In this activity you will examine how the atmosphere absorbs different wavelengths of energy as they both enter and leave the Earth, and learn how this process (the greenhouse effect) warms the Earth and makes it habitable. You will use atmospheric CO2 data collected by NOAA in Hawaii to examine how CO2 is changing in the atmosphere, and relate these findings to what you learned about global temperature patterns in Unit 1.
Materials:
- Unit 2 Activity (Word) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 67kB Jul31 17) and Unit 2 Activity (PDF) (Acrobat (PDF) 153kB Nov14 16)
- Unit 2: Homework (Word) (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 132kB Nov14 16) and Unit 2: Homework (PDF) (Acrobat (PDF) 152kB Nov14 16)
- Unit 2 PowerPoint (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 4.5MB Nov14 16)
Unit 3
Handout for interactive lesson
- Unit 3 Student Handout (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 989kB Nov15 16); also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 1024kB Nov15 16)
PowerPoint slide shows used in class. These are good resources for later reference, especially when working on the capstone project in unit 6.
Volcanic Assignment to do at home in preparation for in-class group work:
- Unit 3 Power Point (PowerPoint 2.6MB Nov18 16)
- LargeVolcanoPartA (PowerPoint 1.8MB Nov15 16)
- Appendices (PowerPoint 1.3MB Nov15 16)
- Large Eruption Part A (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 162kB Nov18 16); also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 310kB Nov18 16)
Unit 4: Balancing the Radiation Budget: A Jigsaw Exploration of the Global Climate System (Part 1)
In this unit you will learn how the components of earth's radiation budget vary across the globe by interpreting maps of radiation data from NASA's Earth's Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE).
Materials from class
- Student Handout Radiation Balance Jigsaw Introduction and Specialty Group (Microsoft Word 52kB Sep10 24), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 178kB Sep10 24).
- Student Basemap (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 1.1MB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 1.1MB Nov18 16).
- Unit 4 Presentation Slides (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 10.5MB Sep6 24), useful for note taking and review.
- NASA CERES January clear sky maps (Acrobat (PDF) 1.3MB Sep10 24), useful for review and answering optional questions.
- Optional questions Units 4 and 5 (Microsoft Word 35kB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 55kB Nov18 16).
Additional resources
- Details on the ERBE mission can be found at http://science.nasa.gov/missions/erbs/ and http://science.larc.nasa.gov/erbe/
- ERBE data can be visualized and downloaded from http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/SOURCES/.NASA/.ERBE/
Unit 5: Balancing the Radiation Budget: A Jigsaw Exploration of the Global Climate System (Part 2)
In this unit you will work with your classmates to determine the radiation balance from the ERBE data you analyzed in Unit 4 and learn how atmospheric circulation acts to balance the radiation budget.Materials from class
- Student Handout Radiation Balance Jigsaw Synthesis (Microsoft Word 46kB Aug31 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 97kB Aug31 16)
- Synthesis Sketch Sheet (Microsoft Word 23kB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 762kB Nov18 16) (note that the synthesis sketch sheet contains 4 pages, one for each of the suggested longitudinal lines).
- Unit 5 Presentation Slides (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 26.1MB Sep10 24), useful for note taking and review.
- Optional questions Units 4 and 5 (Microsoft Word 35kB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 55kB Nov18 16).
- CERES EBAF maps with clouds (Acrobat (PDF) 1.3MB Sep10 24).
Additional resources
- Details on the ERBE mission can be found at http://science.nasa.gov/missions/erbs/ and http://science.larc.nasa.gov/erbe/
- ERBE data can be visualized and downloaded from http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/SOURCES/.NASA/.ERBE/
Optional Activity: Circulation in the atmosphere - a map and cross section based jigsaw
In this optional activity you will learn how atmospheric circulation acts to balance the radiation budget by exloring maps of global wind patterns.
Materials from class
- Student handout atmosphere jigsaw (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 137kB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 119kB Nov18 16)
- Atmosphere jigsaw specialty group basemap (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 1.1MB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 1.1MB Nov18 16)).
- Atmosphere jigsaw synthesis group base (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 1.1MB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 1.2MB Nov18 16).
- Slides for optional activity (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 21.4MB Sep10 24), useful for note taking and review.
- NCEP_NCAR January atmosphere maps (Acrobat (PDF) 4.1MB Jul15 15), useful for review and answering optional questions.
Materials for optional questions
- Optional questions Units 4 and 5 (Microsoft Word 35kB Nov18 16), also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 55kB Nov18 16).
- January Precipitation Map (Acrobat (PDF) 2.2MB Jul15 15).
- Reanalyses.org provides an overview of reanalysis as well as links to many reanalysis websites.
- The climate data guide https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/ncep-ncar-r1-overview provides an overview of the NCEP-NOAA reanalysis.
- NCEP-NOAA data can be visualized and downloaded from http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis.html.
- NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access has extensive links to weather and climate data (including reanalysis data https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets/reanalysis). The various pages include background information and images.
Unit 6
Volcanic Assignment to do at home in preparation for in-class group work:
- Team Guidelines (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 152kB Nov18 16); also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 197kB Nov18 16)
- (same as in Unit 3 above) Large Eruption Part A (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 162kB Nov18 16); also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 310kB Nov18 16)
- Capstone Project (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 829kB Nov18 16); also available as a PDF (Acrobat (PDF) 968kB Nov18 16)
- PowerPoint introducing the Capstone Project Unit 6 Part B PowerPoint (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 4.6MB Sep1 16)
Mt Toba
- The effects and consequences of very large explosive volcanic eruptions, a Royal Society article by S. Self.
- Potential Atmospheric Impact of the Toba Mega‐Eruption ~71,000 years ago. Geophysical Research Letters 23 (8): 837–840.
- Toba Supper Volcano from Livescience
- Youtube video, 45 min total but first 5 minutes is also very informative.
Concept maps/sketches
- On the Cutting Edge page on concept sketches
- A good starting point for using concept maps
- Assessing using concept maps
System diagrams (Causal Loop Diagrams)
- Unit 3 Power Point (PowerPoint 2.6MB Nov18 16) (Overview of System Diagrams from Unit 3 above)
- How to draw and use causal loop diagrams
Conceptual models
- What is a Model, with link to conceptual models
