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Portfolio #1: Average sea temperature
Your task is to review the evidence on this topic and summarize it for your classmates. You will
be asked to present your findings on the following:
1. Summarize evidence that either refutes or supports that global temperatures are rising.
2. Explain how average global air temperature increase contributes to sea surface
temperature.
3. Evaluate how convincing, or unconvincing, the evidence for warming seas is based on
the information provided in this portfolio.
General background
This link (use the whole website as well as videos) presents many different types of recent
research on global temperatures. Take note of the variety observations that have been used to
compile a picture of how the Earth’s climate is changing.
http://climate.nasa.gov/warmingworld/
Data
This is a link is to current climate information. You will need to explore both the data links and
the animated maps in order to summarize current and longer-term trends. What is the
difference between weather and climate? Use the trends shown at this website in both the
data and the maps to develop the linkage between air and sea temperatures.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global
This Wikipedia entry gives quick access to sources of research data and graphics that summarize
a lot of climate information. It may be helpful in understanding how temperature increases and
sea level rise relate to each other:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
Case Studies
This link is to the story of how climate scientists first became aware of dramatic changes in the
climate. Use this story to explain the process and time frame over which this discovery has
taken place. Science is a very long and detail-focused process.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GISSTemperature/giss_temperature.php
Portfolio #2: Thermal expansion of water
Your task is to review the evidence on this topic and summarize it for your classmates. You will
be asked to present your findings on the following:
1. Summarize evidence that either refutes or supports that sea levels are rising.
2. Explain how average thermal expansion of water might contribute to sea level height
changes.
3. Evaluate how convincing, or unconvincing the evidence is for sea level rise based on the
information provided in this portfolio.
Your teacher has set up either a demonstration for the whole class or an experiment for your
group to measure the thermal expansion water in a thin glass tube. If your teacher
demonstrates the experiment, fill in the information collected in the right places on the student
worksheet below. If your group is conducting the experiment, follow the instructions below.
THERMAL EXPANSION AND SEA LEVEL RISE EXPERIMENT
Student worksheet
Observe demonstration
1. Draw the setup of the experiment in the space below.
2. Record the temperature of the water and mark the water level on the glass tube.
Temperature_____ Water height ______
3. Predict what will happen to the water level when exposed to heat in the space below.
4. Turn on the heat lamp and observe the water level at 1, 3, 5 and 10 minutes after the lamp
has been turned on.
5. What happened to the water level in the capillary tube as it warmed? Did you predict these
results?
6. How does this observation relate to global warming?
Data
This is a link to data and animated maps that show recent trends in sea surface temperature
(SST) around the world. You will need to explore these maps in order to summarize current
trends. Use this tool to identify the regions of world that are most likely to experience elevated
sea temperatures. Anomalies are difference from the norm. The norm is defined by the creator
of the data images or table but usually refers to a difference in sea level between an average sea
level calculated over a time period in the early 1990s (eg. 1992-1996) and the presently recorded
sea level.
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_update/gsstanim.shtml
These links (above) take you to detailed sea level data. Notice, for example, that parts of the
Gulf of Mexico seem to be rising but not all year round. What is the trend? You can verify that
impression but checking the “Gulf of Mexico” data in the table at this link
http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/SAT/SeaLevelRise/LSA_SLR_timeseries_regional.php
Compare the areas of the oceans that are higher to the areas of the oceans that are warmer as
determined from the previous link. Do they correspond? A handy way to do this is to open both
links and resize the windows so that you can place them side by side on your computer desktop.
If they do correspond, is the evidence convincing? Does season affect your answer?
http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/SAT/SeaLevelRise/LSA_SLR_maps.php ( still image of trend)
http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/SAT/SeaLevelRise/LSA_SLR_movies.php (movie showing time effects)
http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/SAT/SeaLevelRise/LSA_SLR_background.php
This Wikipedia entry gives quick access to sources of research data and graphics that summarize
a lot of data. It may be helpful in understanding how temperature increases and sea level rise
relate to each other:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_sea_level_rise
Case studies
Use the tool at this link to locate a story about an area of the world that is currently being
affected by warming seas. Select the region you are interested in and click on it. Look for the
markers in the yellow and orange markers (“Flood” and “Extreme “Weather”). Click on one or
more of those to link to a news story about a region of the world being affected. Use this story
as an example when you report your research results back to your classmates.
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/climate/interactive/
Portfolio #3: The melting cryosphere
Your task is to review the evidence on this topic and summarize it for your classmates. You will
be asked to present your findings on the following:
1. Summarize evidence that either refutes or supports that sea levels are rising.
2. Explain how melting snow and ice (the cryosphere) might contribute to sea level height
changes.
3. Evaluate how convincing, or unconvincing, the evidence for sea level rise is based on the
information provided in this portfolio.
General background
This link provides a summary of some recent research on sea level rise:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100519_ocean.html
This Wikipedia entry gives quick access to sources of research data and graphics that summarize
a lot of data. It may be helpful in understanding how temperature increases and sea level rise
relate to each other:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_sea_level_rise
Data
What’s the difference between melting icebergs and melting ice sheets?
Ice becomes liquid water when warmed to its melting point. Conversely, liquid water changes
state to become ice when cooled to its freezing point. Earth's polar regions consist largely of ice,
and exhibit dramatic changes in ice coverage in response to seasonal changes in temperature.
An increase in temperature resulting from global warming could drastically affect the extent of
polar ice. Whether those changes would cause sea level to rise depends on whether the ice is
continental ice or floating ice.
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ipy07.sci.ess.watcyc.icesimulate/
To explore the differences between land-based melting ice and sea ice and their respective
impacts on sea level click on the link above.
 Read the background essay at that site.
 Watch the two videos.
 Answer the following questions:
1) Explain why the two ice masses, of similar size, have different effects on the level of
water in the aquarium when they melt.
2) How does melting of sea ice change the water level of the oceans? Explain your answer.
Melting ice in the polar region can affect climate and sea current worldwide. How does that
happen? Click on the link below and watch the short video. Then answer the questions posted
below the links.
Antarctic:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ipy07.sci.ess.watcyc.cryoantarctica/
1) Describe some of the features of the Antarctic.
2) Identify some of the features that are changing in the Antarctic. What led to the collapse
of the Larsen B Ice Shelf?
3) How do these changes impact conditions in this region? What are the global impacts?
Arctic:
The cryosphere — all the frozen areas on Earth's surface where water exists in its solid form
(such as sea ice, ice shelves, icebergs, ice sheets, glaciers, lake ice, river ice, snow, and
permafrost) — is an integral part of the earth system. For example, because snow and ice reflect
more radiation than they absorb, the polar areas, which consist primarily of snow and ice, have
a cooling effect on Earth and play an important role in global temperature regulation. The
cryosphere also influences global ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns.
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ipy07.sci.ess.watcyc.cryoarctic/
Click on the link above and watch the short videos. Then answer the questions posted below.
1) Discuss some of the ways that the cryosphere influences climate.
2) How much of the earth's surface in the northern hemisphere is covered by permafrost?
3) Identify some of the features that are changing in the Arctic. How does this impact
conditions in this region? What are the global impacts?
Case studies
The glaciers that have long provided water and electricity to this part of Bolivia are melting and
disappearing, victims of global warming, most scientists say.
If the water problems are not solved, El Alto, a poor sister city of La Paz, could perhaps be the
first large urban casualty of climate change. A World Bank report concluded last year that
climate change would eliminate many glaciers in the Andes within 20 years, threatening the
existence of nearly 100 million people.
Read more at http ://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/science/earth/14bolivia.html Use this
news story as an example when you report on the impacts of melting ice to your classmates.
Portfolio #4: Albedo and feedback loops
Your task is to review the evidence on this topic and summarize it for your classmates. You will
be asked to present your findings on the following:
1. Summarize evidence that either refutes or supports that sea levels are rising.
2. Explain how changes in the albedo of surfaces, particularly in polar region, might
contribute to sea level height changes.
3. Evaluate how convincing, or unconvincing, the evidence for sea level rise is based on the
information provided in this portfolio.
General background
This link provides a summary of some recent research on sea level rise:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100519_ocean.html
This Wikipedia entry gives quick access to sources of research data and graphics that summarize
a lot of data. It may be helpful in understanding how temperature increases and sea level rise
relate to each other:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_sea_level_rise
Data
What is albedo and what is its role in rising sea levels? Use the interactive tool at the link below
and then use the provided space to respond.
http://www.teachersdomain.org/assets/wgbh/ipy07/ipy07_int_albedo/ipy07_int_albedo.html
Microbial activity produces gases such as carbon dioxide and methane during the process of
decomposition. (Generally, carbon dioxide is produced in drier conditions and methane in
wetter conditions.) Both carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere trap heat near Earth's surface, contributing to global warming. The finding
that soil microbes metabolize year-round raises the possibility that they may significantly
contribute to the levels of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. Furthermore, as the active
layer of the permafrost increases in thickness with warming temperatures, microbial activity
would also increase.
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ean08.sci.ess.earthsys.microbe/
Watch the short video at the above link and answer the questions listed below in the spaces
provided.
1. What are microbes? What role do microbes in the permafrost play in the functioning of
the ecosystem?
2. How do scientists explain the ability of microbes to carry on respiration at very low
temperatures in the permafrost layers?
3. What is one possible connection between microbial action in the permafrost layer and
global climate change?
4. How would the permanent melting of the permafrost in a particular area affect
microbial communities? What are some possible impacts on the broader ecosystem that
could result?
5. What is meant by the term "positive feedback loop"?
Case studies
Before 1991, no one in Peru could remember a cholera outbreak. Then, in a single day, it hit
hard, up and down the coast and took off from there, eventually killing thousands. That
outbreak was fueled by a change in ocean temperatures. Now some people worry that climate
change could bring the scourge back to Peru. Read this article about some frightening and
unexpected warming oceans impacts at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19344123 and use the information you
discover as an example when you present your report to your classmates.
Portfolio #5: Slope and composition of coastal land
Your task is to review the evidence on this topic and summarize it for your classmates. You will
be asked to present your findings on the following:
1. Summarize evidence that either refutes or supports that sea levels are rising.
2. Explain how slope and composition of coastal lands might contribute to sea level height
changes.
3. Evaluate how convincing, or unconvincing, the evidence for sea level rise is based on the
information provided in this portfolio.
General background
This link provides a summary of some recent research on sea level rise:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100519_ocean.html
This Wikipedia entry gives quick access to sources of research data and graphics that summarize
a lot of data. It may be helpful in understanding how temperature increases and sea level rise
relate to each other:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_sea_level_rise
Data
Rising sea levels inundate wetlands and other low-lying lands, erode beaches, intensify flooding,
and increase the salinity of rivers, bays, and groundwater tables. Some of these effects may be
further compounded by other impacts due to a changing climate. Adding to the problem,
measures that people take to protect private property from rising sea level may have adverse
effects on the environment and on public uses of beaches and waterways. Some property
owners and state and local governments are already starting to consider policy changes to
prepare for the consequences of rising sea level. Read more at:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/coastal/index.html and then answer the following
questions in the space provided.
1. Why are wetland ecosystems so vulnerable to destruction as a result of climate change?
2. Why is coastal flooding in the United States thought to be a critical economic impact
region due to sea level rising?
3. How are storms impacted by sea temperature and what does that mean for coastal
areas?
4. How can drinking water supplies be impacted by sea level rise?
5. Is there any evidence that sea walls reduce the destructive effects of rising sea levels
and the accompanying increase in storm surges?
6. What is a “living shoreline” and what role could living shorelines play in future sea level
rise and coastal property protection? http://shorelines.dnr.state.md.us/living.asp
Case studies
The Sacramento Delta is a small triangle of land just inland from the San Francisco Bay Area. It's
where the fresh water from California's major rivers and the salt water from the Pacific Ocean
meet. More than 20 million Californians get some of their drinking water from the delta. It also
provides much of the water for California's huge agribusiness. But rising sea levels threaten to
turn the delta into a salty marsh, contaminating all that freshwater and flooding the homes and
farms of delta residents. Read more about the effects of sea level rise on California’s limited
freshwater here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18031391 and use the
information you discover as an example when you present your report to your classmates.