Briefing for Teachers

Global Warming

In the event of an alarm sounding…

What you need to know first…

Electromagnetic waves

Atoms

Heat

Electricity

This Talk…

• The problem of scale – The numbers are overwhelming

• The big question– What determines the surface temperature of the Earth?

• The carbon cycle– It’s a natural process: What’s the problem?

• Should we be concerned?– Three main reasons

• What’s going to happen next?– Good Question

What are your concerns?

Please write down one question or comment

Then get some tea,

and come back for a discussion

This talk

• Download these talks from

www.protonsforbreakfast.com/gwb

General Links

• Excellent guide from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology(Superb guide (pdf format) going one step beyond the generalities 5.6 Mb 78 pages in lovely colour!)

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(UN Body whose pronouncements on this subject are deemed authoritative)

• East Anglia University(Climate Change Unit from where you can download actual data and plot your own graphs!)

Climate Models

• EdGCM(Educational Global Circulation Model: Written by NASA scientists and pretty impressive. Runs on Mac or PCs)

• Climate Prediction (Lots of information plus the chance to run a climate model on your PC as a screensaver)

• The Hadley Centre (Met Office Centre for Climate Modelling: World leader in its field)

• BBC News Story (Story about a new climate model)

Ice and Glaciers

• World Glacier Monitoring Service(Lots of very technical data about glaciers)

• The US National Snow and Ice Data Center (Lots of data about the extent of sea ice and other arctic conditions)

• BBC News Story (Recent story about the loss of Arctic ice) • Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre (With

measurements of the Greenland Ice Sheet thickness) • Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre

(Study relating to stability of the North Atalatic Drift (aka Gulf Stream))

Background (1)

• Wikipedia(Wikipedia is an on-line collective encyclopedia: results are usually interesting, but treat data with caution because entries are not refereed: search on global warming)

• Planetary data(Data about the planets)

• NASA's Earth Observatory(Look and learn: Visually stunning and well documented site)

• ESA's Earth Observatory(ESA can do whatever NASA can)

• BBC community action(Get involved)

• Lots of good background(The BBC's Climate change pages)

• Informative ‘Green’ site(A 'green' site)

Background (2)

• Worldwatch site(A site with a worldwide ecological remit)

• Japanese Summer Clothing Iniative (The kind of small thing which makes a difference if we all do it)

• Lots of information (A slightly eclectic collection of basic data about a number of issues)

• George Monbiot and David Bellamy Dialogue(Search for 'Bellamy' whenyou reach the sit: a curious exchange!)

• Interesting article about surface temperature measurement (The 'Greening Earth Society' takes an interesting perspective on this debate which is distinctly American)

• CO2 Science(Problem? What Problem?)

• BBC News Story (About the important role of water vapour (humidity) in climate)