Week 13: Climate Science

 

1. The big question addressed in lab, and a description of what you did.
1. The beginning of the class, we discussed climate change in Iowa. The climate is already changing and Iowans are already adapting. We then expanded our scope to looking at all of the United States and the entire world. Every single piece of data we looked at showed that there is changing. It also shows that it is warming quicker. The driving question today was how does climate change affect the sea level? If all glaciers melted, sea level would rise 70 meters which would flood every single costal city. Sea level doesn't rise as sea ice melts as it is already in the water and accounted for, but when land glaciers melt, it adds to the ocean and causes the sea level to rise. We then discussed the Paris Climate Accord. The US was the first country to sign the accord, but then pulled out of the accord and now is the only country not int he Paris Climate Accord. The US has the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per person.The US will be rejoining the Paris agreement as of January 2021.
2. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture.
1. We started out lecture by discussing climate change and misinformation. We discussed that 99.9% of peer reviewed publications support human impacted climate change and the rest were likely bought and have misinformation in it. We discussed the real meaning of climate change --> if the climate does not remain constant, we call it climate change (spoiler alert: it always changes). We then discussed what makes a warmer or colder climate. Latitude: plates closer to the North and South poles = colder temperatures. Places near the equator = warmer temperatures. Ocean Currents: temperates of an ocean current affects the temperature of air that passes over it. Wind and Air masses: an air mass is a large volume of air that takes on the climatic conditions of the air where it formed. Elevation: the higher in altitude, the colder in temperature. Relief: precipitated created when an air mass rises to cross a mountain barrier. Near Water: in summer, the water acts like an air conditioner to keep the air temperate cool, in winter it acts like a heater. We moved our focus to discussing other evidence of Climate Change. We discussed glacier retreat and the effect that it has on sea level, which has consistently increased.
3. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading:
   1. What did you learn?
   1. Weather is a short-term description for atmospheric conditions, whereas climate is the 30-year average of weather. Climate change is the continual change of climate over time (typically expected to happen). Factors that determine whether an area has a hot or cold climate: L.O.W.E.R. Near water. Latitude: near equator has warmer temperatures, near North and South poles have colder climates. Ocean currents affect the temperature of the air that passes over it. Wind and and air masses which take on the climatic conditions of the area where they are formed. Elevation --> higher altitudes tend to be cooler and warmer altitudes tend to be warmer. Relief --> when an air mass rises to pass over topography (mountain) it expands and cools which causes a rain shadow. Near water --> in summer, water acts like an air conditioner to keep air temperatures cool, in the winter water acts like a heater to keep the temperatures from getting too cool. Main topics for climate change in Iowa are more precipitation and drought, hotter temperatures, impact on agriculture, and habitat changes.
   2. What was most helpful?
   1. The LOWER. Near water. acronym was helpful for me to help me understand what factors determine whether an area has a hot or cold climate.
   3. What do you need more information on?
   1. I need more information on how  much impact me, 1 person, can have on climate change.
   4. What questions/concerns/comments do you have?
   1. Reversing climate change is impossible, but how quickly can we stop the human impact that we currently have on climate change?