2018 National Climate Assessment - Indicators and Causes

For Next year: see below- make it into a unit assessment question. 

For this assignment, you are going to view some portions of the 2018 National Climate Assessment.  We will return to this document later when we begin to look at impacts.

Read through the sections specified below and answer the following questions. 

1. Indicators of Change  

• Directions: 
• Click on this link to 2018 National Climate Assessment Links to an external site.
• Then click on "Overview''
• Scroll Down and find Figure 1.2.  
• Click on the figure to interact. 
•  Explore 5 of the Indicators of Change. 
• Each indicator is a small lettered icon. 
• When you click on the icon, data for that indicator will be displayed. 
• There is also information about each indicator in the text below the charts.  
• For each indicator ( a -l), write 2 sentences
  • 1st sentence explains what is being measured.
  • 2nd sentence explains the trend in the data 

Natural Influences on  Global Temperature  

• Directions: This is an interactive computer model. The scientist made a series of hypotheses that they tested using this computer model.
• I would like you to state the hypotheses, the predictions, look at the observations and conclude if the hypothesis was supported or  not.
• Example:
• Hypothesis: aerosols (small pollution particles in the air) are causing the increase in global temperature
• Prediction: if the scientists calculate all of the pollution that has been and is being emmitted and calculates what that does to the amount of solar radiation, they will create a graph that matches our current temperature increases
• Observation- the black graph line is the actual temperature-
• Conclusion- it does not match the predicted temperature. 
• Go to the top of the page
• Click on the dropdown menu '' Chapters'' and select Chapter 2
• Go to Figure 2.1, Natural Influences on Global Temperature. ( see image to the right)
• Click to interact.  
• Notice that you can click on the Drivers individually or combined to toggle them on or off.  
• Click one at a time on the 3 Natural Drivers (volcanic, solar, orbital).  
• For volcanic, then solar, then orbital- the graph shows you
• For each, include 1 sentence describing the trend in their impact on temperature over time (is it leading to an increase, decrease or stable effect on temperature).
•  Now click on the 4  Human Drivers( greenhouse gases, ozone,  land cover and aerosols)
• For each include 1 sentence describing the trend in their impact on temperature over time(increasing, decreasing, stable).