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)