NAME_______________________ Pd.

_________

Date_____________

Climate Change Web-Quest

Directions- Go to: climate.nasa.gov and using the information of the website,
answer the following questions. Write your answers in the space provided.

Key Indicators
1) What is carbon dioxide (CO2) and where does it usually come from? Its a greenhouse
gas that comes from the burning of fossil fuels.

2) According to the CO2 charts, what was the highest level of CO2 in the 400,000 years
prior to 1950? 300 million

3) According to the charts, what is the level of CO2 today? 400 million

4) Based on the information on the page, why is this level of CO2 a problem?
Because it raises the global temperature causing environmental impacts

5) According to the charts on Arctic Sea Ice, what has been the overall trend since 1980?
Ice melting
6) What trend can be observed for land ice? The mass is shrinking

7) What trend can be observed for sea level? Sea level rising

8) What overall conclusion can you make based on the data of these three charts? As ice
the melts the sea level rises

Evidence
9) What are eight areas that scientists look at for evidence of global warming? Sea level
rising, Global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, declining arctic sea
ice, glacial retreat, extreme weathers, ocean acidification and decreased snow cover

Causes
10) What are the five common gases that cause global warming?
C02, water vapor, methane, Nitrous oxide and CFCs

Effects
11) According to the effects page, what effect will climate change have on water
availability?
The water availability will decrease
12) What visible changes have already occurred due to climate change? Melting ice,
higher sea levels and extreme stroms

Consensus
13) What percentage of scientists agree that climate change is due to human activity?
100%

Innovations
14) Describe three innovations in energy that could help the world become independent
of fossil fuels.
Solar power, wind power and hydropower