Project Goals Improve your understanding of climate change science and how climate change topics can be integrated with general science & math curriculum topics. Improve your teaching skills in inquiry and scientific reasoning, as well as, in helping students use rich technology tools for data collection & analysis. To appreciate climate change science students must act like climate change scientists. Encourage your students to care about their world through responsible choices and decisions. All of us must lower our carbon footprint by making lifestyle changes and responsible citizen action.

Our Expectations & Challenge to You We expect each teacher.... to develop and implement at least one project-based student activity that focuses on climate change science, emphasizes data collection & analysis, is aligned to Washington science & math standards, and is sustainable. Implement the Cool School Challenge To join our project network by participating in 1) onsite visits, 2) support help and equipment loan program, 3) utilizing our resource web page & clearinghouse and 3) our communication & information blogs.

Project Webpage Web address: Tasks to perform now:  Find the teacher blog, bookmark the blog address & add a comment. You might want to comment on the student blog.  Student blog address:  Find: Location of U.S. Global Change Research Program 12 min. Video Segment  Find: Location of Windows To The Universe Activity Website. Go to the actual site to explore their teacher activities.  Discussion about eCoach for students

Greenhouse Gases In 1958 John David Keeling began monitoring CO2 concentrations at the US Weather Bureau observatory on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. This now-famous “Keeling Curve” shows his data from that starting date (315 ppm) to the present date (387 ppm), as well as, the annual cyclical variation of CO2 concentrations due to seasonal photosynthesis (CO2 sink) and decomposition (CO2 source). Original Source:

Global Carbon Emissions 2004 How much CO2 is too much? Climate experts are now evaluating certain biogeochemical systems to determine if “tipping points” have been reached.

Greenhouse Gases Greenhouse gases, both natural and man-made, create a heat-trapping blanket in our atmosphere.

How do greenhouse gases work ? Infrared energy > 750 nm (heat) emitted from Earth is absorbed by a CO2 molecule and then re-emitted. The process continues. The vibrational frequencies of the incoming IR energy match the vibrational modes of C --- O bonds.

What are some of these greenhouse gases? NameChemical FormulaGWP Carbon dioxideCO21.0 Nitrous oxideNO300 MethaneCH425 HalocarbonsHFCs, PFCs5000

Methane: Further Considerations Permafrost in the Arctic has an “active layer” which freezes in the winter and thaws during the summer producing these “drunken” Spruce trees. Partial (aerobic) decomposition of the permafrost produces CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Over millions of years the permafrost layer has grown extremely thick when new plants grew on top of the older material (cryoturbation). Now, since climate change is warming the permafrost, the active layer is moving deeper and making more of the frozen permafrost available to decomposition. Conservative estimates of available carbon is around 500 billion tons.

Production of Methane from Permafrost When oxygen is not available, anaerobic decomposition of permafrost will occur. The carbon will combine with hydrogen (H) to produce methane (CH4).

Production of Methane Estimated Methane Supply: 50 x what is now entering the atmosphere

Methane Greenhouse Effect on Titan

Huygens Probe to Titan

Computer Modeling of Climate Change Climate modeling gives us a tool for exploring scenarios and interactions in predicting the impact of increased amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere. Valuable information about Earth’s climate system is gained in this manner.

Modeling Activities for Students In education, we need to teach the principles of computer modeling. Here are some activities you can do If students are old enough to work with spreadsheets and user-defined functions, you can have a contest to see who could develop the most sophisticated number model. 2

A Modeling Investigation What is the dependent variable we are trying to model? What are some independent variables that might impact the amount of water that flows out of the square reservoir?

Mathematical Interpretations and Curve Fitting