1. Science 10: Climate Change – Examining the Evidence

2. Objectives  explain how climate affects the lives and activity of people and other species  distinguish between anecdotal and scientific evidence  describe the composition of greenhouse gases  relate incidence of greenhouse gases to human activity  describe the relationship between greenhouse gases and climate change  discuss international collaboration on climate change, including specific programs  assess the impacts of climate change

3. Climate  How does climate impact how we live?  How would you describe our climate here?  How do you compare that to the climate of the Northwest Territories?  What kinds of things do we do to survive in our climate?  How might that be different from a place like Saudi Arabia?

4. What’s a Biome?  Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as contiguous areas with similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems  Types of Biomes:  Tundra  Taiga  Deciduous Forest  Grassland  Desert  Rain Forest Wondering more details? You’re going to get those details in just a moment!

5. Climate  Look at these two pictures: What kind of climate do each live in? What have each done to survive in their particular climate?  Adaptation  Adaptation: any change to structure or function that make is more suited to its environment  What adaptations have these two organisms made?

6. Climate Change  Change that occurs in climate of a region over time (min. 30 years)  Compare average weather  Have seen climate change many times throughout Earth’s history (use ice core samples and fossils)  The average surface temperature of the Earth is currently increasing  Use anecdotal and scientific evidence

7. Anecdotal Evidence  Using reports from people about their observations and interpretations  What is a problem using this type of evidence?  Example:  Farmers in Alberta report growing season starting earlier  Aboriginal and Inuit elders have reported changes too (first frost date, start of animal migration, and thickness of ice)

8. Scientific Evidence  Collection of evidence that is unbiased and reflects general situations  Data collected by specialized instruments  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLR-DtxfHPY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLR-DtxfHPY

9. Greenhouse Gases  Natural greenhouse effect  keeps planet warm by absorbing some of the thermal energy radiated from the Earth  Caused mainly by water vapor  Four main greenhouse gases:  Water vapor  CO 2  Methane  Nitrous oxide (N 2 O)

10. Global Warming Potential GasGlobal Warming Potential Persistence (years) Carbon dioxide150-200 Methane2310 Nitrous oxide (N 2 O)296120 Global warming potential  measure of ability of gas to trap thermal energy  CO 2 most common; everything measured against it Persistence  time gas remains in atmosphere

11. Think about it  Why are scientists so concerned about CO2, when there are other Greenhouse Gases that absorb more radiation?

12. How to Understand the Climate  Will have to look a paleoclimate records (past climates)  Types of Records:  Pollen deposits  Ice cords  Dendrochronology (tree cores)

13. Ice Cores  Drilling section of ice to measure gas concentration and particulate matter

14. Ice Cores

15. Vostok Ice Core Data

16. Pollen Analysis  Scientists study pollen content of a soil sample to understand what plants are growing in an area  This is an Electron Microscope looking at pollen!

17. Pollen Activity  Pick selected bag, this is your soil sample.  Find the “pollen” (beads in your sample)  Count the beads and ID the samples based on the ID info  Aspen Poplar (Pink)  Jack Pine (Yellow)  Black Spruce (blue)  Lodge pole Pine (white)  White Spruce (red) Note:  The spruce trees and the lodge pole pine are found in muskeg areas and depend on cool environments  Aspen and Jack Pine can survive in dryer environments  White spruce trees will kill Aspen forests

18. Results: Year of Sample Aspen Poplar (Pink) Jack Pine (Yellow) Black Spruce (blue) Lodge pole Pine (red) White Spruce (white) 1900 1915 1930 1945 1960 1975 1990 2005 2014

19. Dendrochronology  The study of tree rings and how to interpret climate information from them

20. Tree Core

21. Dendrochronology Acitivity  See Dendrochronology Booklet

22. Evaluating Evidence of Climate Change  Study of climate change challenging  Confidence rating  probability that result is true  Analyses and predictions have higher confidence ratings with  More data  More accurate measurements  Good understanding of factors involved  Ex. Have high confidence rating for increasing greenhouse gases

23. Greenhouse Gases  See that concentrations of greenhouse gases in ice cores have increased since about 1700  What historical event occurred then?  Industrial Revolution  increase in fossil fuel consumption  What is a fossil fuel?  Fuel with lots of carbon, formed from living organism remains  Coal, oil and natural gas  Releases all three greenhouse gases

24. Carbon Sources and Sinks  Carbon source  process releasing CO 2 (g) to atmosphere  Includes burning fossil fuels and respiration  Carbon sink  removes CO 2 (g) from the atmosphere  Photosynthesis  Dissolved CO 2 (g) in oceans and lakes  How are we increasing CO 2 (g) in the atmosphere?  Forest removal  Agriculture  Garbage (releases nitrous oxide)

25. Halocarbons  Human-made chemicals  Absorb significant amounts of thermal energy  Used as coolants  Fridges, air conditioners  CFCs  class of halocarbons  Global warming potential of 12 000  Used to be in aerosols  Restricted use  Contribute to the destruction of ozone  http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/03/technolo gy-ultraviolet-ozone-sun-summer.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/03/technolo gy-ultraviolet-ozone-sun-summer.html

26. Other Evidence  Flowers in Northern Hemisphere blooming 26 days earlier  Severe weather-related disasters  Amount of snow cover and ice has decreased  Level of oceans increased 2-5 cm

27. Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change  What is the greenhouse effect?  Global warming  observed increase in Earth’s average temperature  Important detection organization:  IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)  Operates out of UN  If we continue with our current practices, global warming will continue and result in climate change

28. Greenhouse Effect Lab  See Lab Handout and activity on the side of the room.  Question to answer:  How is CO2 contributing to the greenhouse effect?

29. Greenhouse Gases and Human Activity  What does this mean overall?  Increased greenhouse gas levels mean that less thermal energy is released back into space  Average temperature of Earth rises

30. Bill Nye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v-w8Cyfoq8

31. People Involved:  Important detection organization:  IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)  Operates out of UN  If we continue with our current practices, global warming will continue and result in climate change  Example Meeting:  Kyoto Accord  Discussing Climate Change effects in certain countries

32. Kyoto Accord Activity (First read pg 421-423)

33. The International Panel on Climate Change  Class will be divided up to represent groups from countries  Read summary on page 428  Round Table Discussion regarding Polar Bear Conservation