Connect your learning – Past Climate Change

How can
climate
change
because of
natural
reasons?

Sun Sun
Changing climate
 CHANGING CLIMATES
Objectives
1. To be able to DESCRIBE the
major changes to
temperature and CO2 over
short and longer periods of
time.
2. To be able to explain global
warming and HUMAN
reasons why climate
changes.
3. To EVALUATE what might
happen to CO2 levels and
temperature in the future.
Outcomes
1. A paragraph describing the
link between CO2 and
temperature since 1850.
2. Video notes and a diagram
showing how global warming
works and why climate
changes because of
HUMAN activity.
3. The ability to discuss
verbally what might happen
with extra global warming in
the future.
Human and Natural climate change
• In Lesson 6 we looked at
how the make up
(composition) of our
atmosphere and
volcanoes, the way our
planet orbits around the
Sun and the position of
the continents
(continental drift) all can
cause climate to change.
• These are natural
reasons for climate
change
• In this lesson, we explore
the impacts humans can
have on the climate
system, through our use
of fossil fuels and
changing land use.
• These are the HUMAN
reasons for climate
change
How is climate changing
Globally?
 Long term climate change
Temperature and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere over the last 400
410
000 years (from the Vostok ice core) X 1. Describe the
November 2019 relationship between
360 CO2 and Temperature
CO2 Concentration (ppmv)

The graph shows that in

310 general the pattern
between CO2 and
260
temperature is that

A good example of this is

210
at years where the
CO2 is ppmv and the
160
400 000 350 000 300 000 250 000 200 000 150 000 100 000 50 000 0
temperature is °C
Years before present (when present is taken as 1950) different from today
4 Warmer
ppmv = parts
Temperature change from present (°C)

2 than
0
present
Present Temperature
per million
-2 (1950) volume: this is
-4 Colder
than
a measure of
-6
-8
present what
-10 proportion of
400 000 350 000 300 000 250 000 200 000 150 000 100 000 50 000 0
the air is
Years before present (when present is taken as 1950)
carbon dioxide
Graph sketched from J.R.Petit, J.Jouzel, et al. Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420 000 years from the Vostok Ice Core in Antarctica, Nature 399 pp429-
436, 1999
 Temperature and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere over the last 400
Long term climate change
410
000 years (from the Vostok ice core) X
November 2019
2. Has the Earth been
360
generally warmer or
CO2 Concentration (ppmv)

colder than present?

310
3. How many glacial
260
periods are indicated
on the graph?
210
4. Look at the 2019 CO2
level, what could this
160 mean for
400 000 350 000 300 000 250 000 200 000 150 000 100 000 50 000 0
temperatures going
Years before present (when present is taken as 1950)
4 forward?
Warmer
Temperature change from present (°C)

2 than
present
0 Present Temperature
-2 (1950)

-4 Colder
than
-6
present
-8
-10
400 000 350 000 300 000 250 000 200 000 150 000 100 000 50 000 0
Years before present (when present is taken as 1950)

Graph sketched from J.R.Petit, J.Jouzel, et al. Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420 000 years from the Vostok Ice Core in Antarctica, Nature 399 pp429-
436, 1999
 The change in CO2 and Temperature since 1850
Past GLOBAL
420 0.8
climate change
0.7
– RECENT
Concentration of CO2 (Parts per million)

400
0.6
0.5
HISTORY
380

Temperature Change °C
0.4
360 0.3
Describe the patterns
on this GLOBAL graph.
340 0.2
0.1 1. What happens to
320 Average Temperature 0
the temperature
between 1850 and 1900 over time? What
-0.1
300 are the start and
-0.2
end values for
280 -0.3 temperature?
5 0 7 0 9 0 1 0 3 0 5 0 7 0 9 0 1 0
18 18 18 19 19 19 19 19 20 2. What happens to
Year the CO2 over time?
What are the start
and end values for
Good words to use – Fluctuating, rising, any figures
CO2?
and dates, Highest, lowest, Long term mean
(average)
Why does climate change? The
HUMAN causes
The Greenhouse Effect Using the video:
1. What drives the
Earth’s climate
system?
2. What happens to
the Sun’s energy
when it reaches
our atmosphere?
3. What happens to
the Earth’s heat?
4. Without the
Greenhouse gases
would we be able
to live on Earth?

Draw a copy of the

diagram on the next
slide

https://youtu.be/lrPS2HiYVp8
 How the Greenhouse Effect works
2. Some of this
energy is reflected
directly back out to
space from dust,
ice and clouds
6.Some heat energy
escapes to space

1. The Sun sends

its energy to Earth
as INSOLATION
CO2, H2O, 5. This heat energy is
CH4 trapped by carbon dioxide,
7. Human activity adds
methane and water vapour
The 4. Heat rises
through the
extra gasses causing
EXTRA ANTHROPOGENIC
atmosphere Earth’s warming
atmosphere

The Earth

3. Light energy is converted to heat

energy at the Earth’s surface

The causes of climate change
https://youtu.be/uHbxSYDqTR8
1. What has happened over
the course of the last
century?
2. What has been the
average global
temperature?
3. What does the evidence
point to?
4. What natural events can
cause warming of our
planet?
5. What does most
evidence suggest about
the recent warming we
have seen on planet
Earth?
6. Which activities increase
the concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere?
7. What sources of CO2 are
there?
8. What sinks of CO2 are
there?
Changing Climate- Review
1.DESCRIBE the major changes to temperature and
CO2 over short and longer periods of time
2.Explain global warming and reasons why climate
changes

In pairs verbally explain both of the key learning points

from today’s lesson.
OR https://quizlet.com/_8y58ao?x=1jqt&i=38anvz
 Width of shape
Global warming scenarios around the line
indicated the degree
180
of variability of the
2030 - Deadline estimates
date for action
160

No climate action
policies – 4.1 to 4.8°C Unprecedented
Global greenhouse gas emissions (Gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent)

140
warmer heat waves

120

100
Increasingly
severe
80
Paris Climate
impacts
Kyoto conference
Climate 2015
60 conference Current climate action 20-30% increase in
1997 policies – 3.1 to 3.7°C extreme rainfall
warmer
Risk of global mass
40 extinctions
Promised (pledged)
Historical Carbon policies – 2.6 to 3.2°C
Emissions Global crop decline
warmer
20
2°C warmer than today Major Amazon die back
– Upper end of Paris Millions at risk of losing
homes due to sea level rise
0 Agreement in 2015
1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100 Major risk to most coral reefs
1.5°C warmer than Food production losses
-20
today – Goal of Paris
Extreme heat waves with
Agreement in 2015 severe social impacts

Homework – all tasks on the sheet

 Thunk Question

Is the sunlight ever yours?

Thunk question
“A Thunk
question is a…
simple-looking
question about
everyday things
that stops you in
your tracks and
helps you start to
look at the world
in a whole new
light.”
https://www.indep
endentthinking.co.u
k/thunks/

n.b. Thunk in this

sense is not an
official word in
the Cambridge
English
Dictionary!
 Climate change reflection
1850 1900 1950 2000 2018
England

Compare these climate

stripes for England,
Egypt
Egypt and Greenland

Greenland

Climate stripes are data graphics that use a series of coloured

stripes chronologically ordered to show long-term temperature
trends. Blue stripes indicate cooler years and red stripes warmer
compared to the 1971-2000 period