GIS Live 2004
"Crossing Boundaries with GIS"

Sessions Previews

Climate Change and GIS
Lynne Gronback, Science Teacher
McDougle Middle School, Kenan Fellow

Description:

Global climate change and its potential causes are some of the most heavily debated environmental issues today. Many believe that industrialization has resulted in a material increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG), and that this increase is contributing toward a warming of the earth’s atmosphere.

We know that the earth has become warmer over the last century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), reports that the average surface temperature of the earth has increased during the twentieth century by about 0.6° ± 0.2°C. (The ± 0.2°C means that the increase might be as small as 0.4°C or as great as 0.8°C.) This may seem like a small shift, but although regional and short-term temperatures do fluctuate over a wide range, global temperatures are generally quite stable. In fact, the difference between today’s average global temperature and the average global temperature during the last Ice Age is only about 5 degrees C. Indeed, it’s warmer today around the world than at any time during the past 1000 years, and the warmest years of the previous century have occurred within the past decade.

We also know that human activities—primarily the burning of fossil fuels—have increased the greenhouse gas content of the earth’s atmosphere significantly over the same period. Carbon dioxide is one of the most important greenhouse gases, which trap heat near the planet’s surface.

Learn how scientists are studying global climate change and how teachers and students are participating in investigating this important problem question.

Preparing for the Session:

K

What do you know about global climate change? Do you think that this has anyting to do with the hurricane season in North Carolina? How is GIS used to study global climate change?

W

What have you learned about global climate change? What have scientists found to support global climate change? What are they continuing to investigate?

L

How could you become a part of the global climate change investigation? What other questions do you have about global climate change? What are some things that you could do?