Layla Frost 6/4/18

Environmental Science Period 3

Webquest Questions

1. People know the Earth’s climate has been changing by the research from the ice cores
that were extracted from Greenland and Antarctica. Four ways that people know that the
global climate is changing are the shrinking of ice sheets, decreased snow cover, the rise
in sea levels, and extreme events. The NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate
Experiment has data that proves 150-250 cubic kilometers of ice were lost in Greenland
between the years 2002 and 2006. Satellite observations and many locals in the Northern
Hemisphere have noticed that the amount of spring snow cover have decreased and that
snow starts to melt earlier over the passed five decades. In the last century the global sea
level rose 8 inches, and many locals around the coasts have noticed first hand that the sea
levels rose a little bit each year. Many people notice that the increase in extreme events,
storms, increase in temperature, and the number of record low temperature events have
been decreasing have been happening since the 1950s.
2. Over the past 100 years the global climate changed by the amount of carbon dioxide and
other heat trapping gases that have been emitted into the atmosphere. The industrial
revolution, and agricultural revolution increased the uses of fossil fuels and other
substances that put off gases into the atmosphere. Gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous
oxide, methane, and water vapor. The amount of carbon dioxide that have emitted into
the air has significantly increased since the Industrial Revolution. Methane is a gas that
goes into the atmosphere from natural sources and human activities, the increase in
population, agriculture, and wastes in landfills contribute to the increase of the heat
trapping gas in the Earth’s atmosphere.
3. The four greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and water vapor.
4. The amount of carbon dioxide have changed over the past 100 years by the increase of
burning of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. The process of when the carbon is emitted into
the air and then combines with the oxygen in the air is due to human activities such as
clearing land for agriculture.
5. One major thing that are causing these changes are that the lifestyle of the people on the
planet. People depend on industrial methods to do simple and difficult activities. Like
using fossil fuels to power energy, even though we have created the technology to harvest
clean energy from using sun, wind, and water. Also industries and agricultural companies
depend on fossil fuels to power their machinery because it is easier, faster, and more
convenient. And these practices that have gone on for a long time with no change have
raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 400 parts per
million in the last 150 years.
6. Everyday people are affecting global climate change by depending on fossil fuels to
power their houses and cars. Today there are cars that can run on electric to not put out as
 much gases into the atmosphere, but people still choose to use cars and trucks to travel
and get to where they need to go to because it is more convenient to stop at a gas station
for energy, and faster to travel. Also the electric and energy that are used to power
people’s homes are created by burning fossil fuels, and many people also use fossil fuels
to power their lawn mowers, grills, and any other home maintenance tool.
7. Solar irradiance is the power per unit area that is received from the sun, and is received in
a form of electromagnetic radiation. It is also called insolation and solar exposure. Solar
irradiance affects the climate on Earth by changing the amount of the sun's output that
gets to the earth. The sun's energy is what makes life on earth possible, it drives our
climate system. An example is when the decrease in solar activity between 1650 to 1850
is a thought that it triggered that Little Ice Age.
8. Global Climate change results in an increase of temperature. According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), they forecasts that the temperature
will rise 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century.
9. The changing of temperature is a big deal, even if it changes a little bit because it has the
potential to disturb the balance of the environment and how everything works. The
changing of temperature can changes the weather patterns and can affect the climate and
weather of certain ecosystems for the better or for the worse, and animals can suffer from
those changes.
10. In the United States there are changes that scientists have predicted that will happen in
the certain regions of the country. For example, in the northeast the changes in the area
are that there will be more intense heat waves, heavy downpours, and the sea level will
rise. On the other hand, the changes in the southwest are increased heat, drought, insect
outbreaks, and increased wildfires.
11. There are also changes that will not only affect certain areas but will affect the world and
planet. Some changes that will occur because of the changes in the global climate are that
the seasons of frost and growing crops will grow longer, the precipitation patterns will
increase, droughts and heat waves will increase, hurricanes and storms will become more
intense, and the sea levels will rise.
12. According to the Climate time machine the Arctic sea ice minimum and the perennial ice
cover has been decreasing at the end of every summer since satellite record that began in
1979. The sea level will rise because the ice is melting, specifically the Greenland ice
sheet has been at lower elevations and the melting of that ice sheet can cause a 3 foot rise.
Scientists have predicted that if the ice sheet melts completely it can cause the sea level to
rise by 16-23 feet, and the coast of the cities Miami and New Orleans will be affected.
The Carbon Dioxide emitted in the world will be concentrated and distributed in higher
amounts, as time goes on the carbon dioxide has been in highly concentrated up in the
north Artics, and then all of the continents have high concentrations of carbon dioxide by
2016. The global temperature has been changing, since 1884 the cool areas have been
getting warmer than average, and the hotter areas have been increasing in temperature
above their average.
13. Five things that I have learned by taking the quiz are that GRACE is a spacecraft that can
detect the lack of in trenches on the ocean floor which allows it to map trenches like the
Japan Trench in the ocean. And when you think of sea ice and land ice you would think
that the melting of sea ice has the greater affect but land ice has the greater effect because
melting sea ice does not contribute nearly as much to ocean water volume because
floating ice displaces water in an amount equal to its volume. Sea Surface Salinity is the
salt concentration on the ocean’s surface, and the NASA’s Aquarius satellite measures
the Earth’s sea surface salinity from space. Also there is a current makes an uninterrupted
circle around the entire Earth without hitting land which is known to be the Antarctic
Circumpolar Current. Lastly, currents are driven by wind and and influenced by the
“Coriolis effect”, which causes the current to rotate clockwise in the northern hemisphere
and counterclockwise in the south.
14. There are many ways that you can slow down climate change. You can be energy
efficient by changing light bulbs to LEDs, unplugging electronics when there not in use,
washing clothes in warm or cold water, and hang dry your clothes when you are able to.
Also you can limit the amount of garbage that goes into landfills by composting food
scraps, garden trimmings, and shop smarter for the minimal packaging or recyclable
packaging.
15. People know the Earth’s climate has been changing by the research from the ice cores
that were extracted from Greenland and Antarctica. Four ways that people know that the
global climate is changing are the shrinking of ice sheets, decreased snow cover, the rise
in sea levels, and extreme events. This is because the amount of carbon dioxide that have
emitted into the air has significantly increased since the Industrial Revolution. Methane is
a gas that goes into the atmosphere from natural sources and human activities, the
increase in population, agriculture, and wastes in landfills contribute to the increase of the
heat trapping gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. And the the earth is changing by more
intense heat waves, heavy downpours, the sea level will rise, increased heat, drought,
insect outbreaks, and increased wildfires. You can help by being energy efficient by
changing light bulbs to LEDs, unplugging electronics when there not in use, washing
clothes in warm or cold water, and hang dry your clothes when you are able to.