A Historical Perspective of Earth's Climate
Task 1: The Story of the Earth
In order to understand Global Climate Change, you need to have a strong knowledge of Story of Earth. This youtube video gives you an amazing insight into how life has evolved on Earth and how our survival is dependent on volcanoes and the carbon dioxide they produce. Click on the button below and answer the questions on the worksheet as you go along.
In order to understand Global Climate Change, you need to have a strong knowledge of Story of Earth. This youtube video gives you an amazing insight into how life has evolved on Earth and how our survival is dependent on volcanoes and the carbon dioxide they produce. Click on the button below and answer the questions on the worksheet as you go along.
Task 2: Major Climate Changes throughout Earth's History to Present Day
Scientists have pieced together a picture of Earth's climate, dating back hundreds of thousands of years by analysing a number of indirect sources such as ice cores, tree rings, glacier lengths, pollen remains, ocean temperatures etc. It is generally believed that the Earth has large swings in its climate. There has been around 5 major ice ages. Learn more about the changes in Earth's climate by reading the UTAH Geological Website and answer the questions below.
1) What is an ice age?
2) What are interglacial and glacial periods?
3) What type of period are we currently in?
4) Describe how the temperatures should be changing if the Earth's climate was following past trends.
Scientists have pieced together a picture of Earth's climate, dating back hundreds of thousands of years by analysing a number of indirect sources such as ice cores, tree rings, glacier lengths, pollen remains, ocean temperatures etc. It is generally believed that the Earth has large swings in its climate. There has been around 5 major ice ages. Learn more about the changes in Earth's climate by reading the UTAH Geological Website and answer the questions below.
1) What is an ice age?
2) What are interglacial and glacial periods?
3) What type of period are we currently in?
4) Describe how the temperatures should be changing if the Earth's climate was following past trends.
5) Here is a graph that shows the changes in carbon dioxide and in global temperature over the last 400,000 years. List some interesting features that you can observe from this graph.
Hence we can clearly see that carbon dioxide and average global temperature is increasing when we would expect that they would be decreasing. Also both are increasing much more than we have seen in the last 400,000 years.
So what do scientists think is going on?????????