Weather vs Climate
Oklahoma has a very cold day in October. Does this single day disprove global warming?
What is no? One cold day is weather, not a long-term climate pattern.
Greenhouse gases absorb infrared energy. What does absorb mean in this situation?
What is to take in energy?
A family drives a gasoline-powered vehicle. Which human activity can cause greenhouse gases to enter the atmosphere?
What is burning fossil fuels for transportation?
A temperature graph rises from 14°C to 17°C over several decades. What kind of trend does it show?
What is an increasing temperature trend?
A glacier's size decreases as temperatures rise. Which vocabulary word describes what happens to the glacier?
What is shrink?
One city has hot summers every year. Scientists study the same pattern over 30 years. What are they studying?
What is the city's climate?
A student says greenhouse gases create all of Earth's heat. What is a more scientifically accurate explanation?
Greenhouse gases help retain energy from the Sun by absorbing and re-emitting infrared energy; they do not create the energy.
A forest is cleared to build roads and buildings. Explain two ways this can affect atmospheric CO₂.
Clearing may release stored carbon, and fewer trees remain to absorb CO₂ through photosynthesis.
A graph shows temperatures rising for several years, dipping briefly, and then rising again. Does the brief dip automatically mean global warming has stopped?
What is no? Short-term changes can occur within a longer-term warming trend.
A student claims melting sea ice and melting land ice have exactly the same effect on sea level. What is the important difference?
Melting land ice adds water to the ocean and raises sea levels; melting floating sea ice has little direct effect on sea level.
A student says, “Climate change means every day must be hotter than the day before.” Explain the mistake.
Climate change involves long-term shifts in average conditions, not a steady increase every day.
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Complete this cause-and-effect chain: more greenhouse gases → more infrared energy retained → ________.
greenhouse gases → more infrared energy retained → ________.
What is an increase in Earth's average temperature?
A power plant burns coal to generate electricity. Trace the cause-and-effect relationship between this activity and climate warming.
Burning coal releases CO₂ → atmospheric greenhouse gas levels increase → more infrared energy is retained → warming increases.
Two students study temperature data. Student A examines one day's temperature. Student B examines 50 years of data. Who has stronger evidence for identifying a climate trend, and why?
Student B, because the longer record shows patterns over time.
Explain how melting glaciers can contribute to rising sea levels.
Water from melting land ice flows into the oceans, increasing the amount of ocean water
Scientists compare decades of temperature records from many locations and find an overall increase. Explain why this is stronger evidence of climate change than one unusually hot summer.
Long-term records from multiple locations help reveal a consistent climate pattern and reduce the influence of short-term weather variations.
Two atmospheric samples contain different amounts of greenhouse gases. All else being equal, which sample would generally retain more infrared energy, and why?
The sample with more greenhouse gases, because those gases absorb and re-emit more infrared energy.
A community replaces some fossil-fuel electricity with wind and solar energy. Why could this help slow climate change?
These energy sources generate electricity without directly burning fossil fuels, reducing associated CO₂ emissions.
A town's average annual temperature was 15°C in one decade and 16.5°C in the next. Calculate the increase and describe the trend
What is a 1.5°C increase and a warming trend?
Oceans warm as Earth's average temperature increases. Describe one way warmer oceans can contribute to rising sea levels.
Warmer seawater expands, taking up more space and raising sea levels.
A town's average temperatures have risen over 40 years, even though some winters are unusually cold. What does this evidence suggest?
It suggests a long-term warming trend despite short-term weather variations.
Explain how the natural greenhouse effect benefits Earth and how an enhanced greenhouse effect can contribute to climate change.
The natural greenhouse effect keeps Earth warm enough for life. Additional greenhouse gases strengthen heat retention, contributing to rising average temperatures.
A city wants to reduce its contribution to climate change. Compare two strategies: reducing gasoline use and protecting forests. Explain how each strategy can help.
Reducing gasoline use lowers fossil-fuel emissions; protecting forests preserves carbon storage and trees that absorb CO₂.
Scientists observe rising temperatures over many decades, shrinking glaciers, and rising sea levels. Explain how these three observations support the conclusion that Earth's climate is warming.
Long-term temperature increases show warming directly; shrinking glaciers and rising sea levels provide additional evidence of changes associated with warming.
Use the words trend, glacier, shrink, and due to in a scientific explanation of one effect of climate change.
The long-term warming trend can cause a glacier to shrink due to rising temperatures.”