The document discusses climate change versus weather, how climate change is causing changes in weather patterns like stronger hurricanes and more wildfires. It explains that the global climate is getting warmer due to the greenhouse effect and provides examples like less snow and more extreme weather events. It discusses how both carbon and water vapor contribute to climate change as greenhouse gases. Changing climate impacts various species and abiotic factors like disrupting life cycles, melting polar ice, and affecting events like the Winter Olympics through lack of snow. Global cooling is defined as when the climate cools down, as the Earth heads towards another ice age.
2. What is Climate? What is weather? Weather is the condition of the atmosphere such as precipitation, temperature Climate is the average weather over a long period of time
3. What are the similarities and differences between climate and weather? Both weather and climate happens in the same place, and they both affect our way of life. But weather is just what happens on one day, while climate is the average weather an area has.
4. How has the change in climate created a change in weather patterns? The climate change has created: Stronger and more frequent hurricanes More wildfires More droughts Higher risk of floods Greater odds of deadly heat waves
5. How is the global climate changing? Is it getting warmer or colder? How do we know? The global climate is getting warmer because of the greenhouse effect. We know because the winter didn’t get as much snow in some places The extreme weather we have been getting this year is another example of climate change
6. Figure out if the overall temperature and precipitation has changed in the past 150 years: polar, rain forest Rainforest: Deforestation causes almost 20% of greenhouse gas emissions Polar: Temperatures have risen in the past 100 years Polar ice is melting
7. Is carbon related to climate change? Is water vapor related to climate change? How? Both water vapor and carbon are related to climate change because they both are green house gasses that cause the greenhouse effect.
8. What could be causing global climate change? Global climate change can be caused by many factors, including: Cars Pollution Burning coal to make electricity
9. How does the changing climate impact biota: turtles, polar bears, penguins, migratory birds, humans, food production? The changing climate affects biota because it disrupts their life cycles and the climate they live in. In the polar bear and penguin’s case, it is causing their home to disappear.
10. How does the changing climate impact abiotic: weather patterns, jet stream, hurricanes, precipitation levels, human events (e.g. Winter Olympics)? The changing climate affects human events because we have no control over it. During the winter Olympics, because Vancouver didn’t have snow, they had to ship snow in from a different place that had snow.
11. Global cooling is what happens when the climate cools down, when the earth is heading towards another ice age What is Global cooling?