Name______Per._____
What is the Future of Earth? Climate Change Simulation
Go to Do not fill in the activity online. Instead, answer the questions below. You can navigate between modules by clicking on the Menu tab at the top of the page.
Module 1: Earth’s Changing Climate
1. What is “average” temperature defined as in the simulation? ______
2. In the past 50 years, where has temperature changed the most? ______
3. Describe at least 2 effects of warmer temperatures in this region.
4.Go to the second page that contains the graph. What is the approximate change in temperature between the years 1880 and 2010?
5. Go to the third page that contains he graph with the 5 year average temperatures. Why is the curve between 1950 and 1980 relatively flat and centered around zero? (Hint: how is the temperature change being compared over time?)
6. Go to the next page and make the drawing of what you think the temperature change will be over the next 50 years. How much temperature increase do you think will happen by the year 2050, based on the line you drew on your graph?
7. Go to the page with the ice core. Why do you think the winter layers are darker than the summer layers in the ice core?
8. Look at the Vostok ice core data. The graph shows that the temperature for the past 10,000 years (not including
the past 100 years), compared with the previous 400,000 years has been
A.getting warmer.B. staying fairly stableC. getting colder
9. Is this trend consistent with what you’ve observed from the data between 1880 and 2010? ______
Module 2: Interactions within the atmosphere.
10. What two things can happen when energy from the sun interacts with the ground? (Click the button labeled “Follow Energy Packet” several times to find out).
11. How does CO2 (green molecules) interact with the two types of radiation: sunlight (yellow arrows) and infrared (purple arrows)?
12. Go to the next page and erupt the volcano to increase atmospheric CO2. What happens to temperature when more CO2 is put into the atmosphere?
13. Click on Remove CO2 until you have removed all the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. What happens to temperature when you do this?
14. Play with the molecular model on the next page (the one starting with question #8 in the simulation). Based on the model, how do greenhouse gases cause the Earth’s atmosphere to warm?
Choose all correct answers. Greenhouse gases…
____A. absorb incoming solar radiation._____C. absorb outgoing infrared radiation.
____B. reflect incoming solar radiation._____D. emit outgoing infrared radiation.
15. Go to the graph of the Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory (Keeling curve). Why does the CO2 fluctuate during a single year?
Module 3: Sources, Sinks, and Feedbacks.
16. Are there any carbon reservoirs that act as only sinks in the carbon cycle diagram? ______
17. Look at the graphs on the next pages. Will higher temperatures increase or decrease CO2 solubility in the
ocean? ______
18. Play with the model on the next page by changing the temperature up and down. Why do you think the model shows a time lag between atmospheric temperature changes and ocean temperature changes?
19. Go to the model on the next page that includes water vapor. What is the relationship between water vapor and temperature?
20. As water vapor in the atmosphere increases, what will happen to atmospheric temperature? What kind of feedback is this?
21. Go to the next model and increase human CO2 emissions. Give the simulation some time to run. How does increasing CO2 in the atmosphere affect water vapor content in the atmosphere?
Module 4: Feedbacks of ice and clouds:
22. Play with the amount of ice cover on earth and watch the changes in temperature, CO2 and water vapor content. What happens when energy from the sun encounters a white surface (ice or snow)? The energy is
____reflected off the surface and leaves the atmosphere.
____reflected off the surface and trapped in the atmosphere.
____absorbed by the surface and stored in the land and ocean.
____absorbed by the surface, radiating heat into the atmosphere.
23. Go to the next page and add a bunch of clouds. What happens to the temperature if many clouds are added? Why?
24. Are clouds acting as positive or negative feedback in this model? ______
25. Go to the Bear Glacier picture. Define albedo.
26. Look at the graph of arctic sea ice extent. How much has it decrease from the years 1979 to 2010?
27. How will this decrease affect Earth’s temperature in the long-term? Why?
28. Explain the positive feedback loop that leads to increased arctic sea ice melting.
29. Go to the clouds page. How can low clouds have both a cooling and a warming effect?
Module 5: Using Models to Make Predictions:
30. Why is there a time lag between changes in CO2 levels and temperature?
31. Listen to the video of Mark Chandler. How can scientists tell that a model is good? What kinds of tests can you run to assess the validity of a model?
32. Look at the temperature data from the past 500 million years. Realize that the data is not plotted in a linear way. Ancient data is more compressed than more recent data. How did scientists infer temperature on Earth before ice cores existed?
33. How can scientists look at 542 million years of temperature data and still be fairly confident that humans are contributing to the current warming trend?
34. Go to the last page. What do human CO2 emissions need to be in order to reduce the average global temperature compared to 2010 emissions? You might have to let the simulation run a while.
____A. 0-25% of 2010 emissions____C. 50-75% of 2010 emissions
____B. 25-50% of 2010 emissions____D. 75-100% of 2010 emissions