Assignment 5 – Climate Change ESSAY

Assignment 5 – Climate Change

Name:     

myUH ID#      

In this assignment you will investigate different aspects of climate change. Some of these questions are critical thinking questions where you’ll need to piece together several pieces of information in order to get the answer. Other questions are reading comprehension and graph/map interpretation.

Assignment Rules:

· All answers must be in complete sentences and written in your own words to receive credit.

· Due by 4/26, uploaded to Blackboard via Turnitin

Rules Acknowledgement:

1. Before beginning the assignment, acknowledge that you know the rules of the assignment as listed above. Type “I understand answers need to be written in my own words in full sentences” (3 pts)

Part 1: Hurricanes and Climate Change

One of the predicted effects of climate change is that hurricanes will get stronger.

2. How would a warming climate increase hurricane intensity and/or frequency? (Hint: Think about the oceans and what is needed for hurricane formation) (4pts)

3. Go to this NOAA report on global warming and hurricanes ( https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/ ). Read the section marked “F. Summary for Atlantic Hurricanes and Global Warming”, especially the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of that section (It’s about half-way down the page).

a. What is the current viewpoint of NOAA on whether global warming is changing hurricane activity? (5pts)

b. What do they predict will happen to Atlantic hurricane intensity, frequency, and rainfall as the climate continues to warm? (5pts)

4. Unfortunately, a major problem with science communication is when communicators (like news media, politicians, and sometimes scientists) select only parts of a scientific report because it supports their viewpoint while ignoring other parts that oppose their viewpoint. This is called cherry-picking. Head to this opinion piece in the New York Post from September 2018 (https://nypost.com/2018/09/19/no-global-warming-isnt-causing-worse-hurricanes/). You can read the whole article, but I want you to focus on the 6th paragraph that describes the main evidence being used for this article; the paragraph begins with “For the United States…”. Then look at the Figure 3 from the NOAA reading link in question 2.

a. Summarize the main conclusions about hurricanes from the opinion piece. (4pts)

b. Discuss the differences between the actual data from NOAA and what is said in the opinion piece. (4pts)

c. How is this opinion piece an example of cherry-picking? (Hint: see slides 38, 46, and 47 from Lecture 11 – Hurricanes for some help). (4pts)

Part 2: Sea level rise

5. Head to this website ( https://sealevelrise.org/causes/ ). Explain the four main causes of sea level rise in your own words. (5pts)

6. Explore the links at the bottom of that page, what is the primary cause of sea level rise in Texas? (5pts)

7. Now head to this NOAA website ( https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/ ). The arrows on this map are showing sea level trends around the world.

a. Which U.S. state is currently experiencing the most sea level rise? (4pts)

b. If you zoom in, you can click on the arrows to get location specific information. Click on the right-most red arrow in southern Louisiana. What is the rate of sea level rise? (4pts)

c. What is the rate of sea level rise for our area? (check Galveston, there are two arrows, use the one on the ocean side of the island) (4pts)

d. Assuming the rate of sea-level rise stays constant, how much higher will sea level be in Galveston 25 years from now? (4pts)

e. Now look at the southern coast of Alaska. What do you think is the cause for sea level lowering in this area (arrows pointing down)? Hint: a similar cause is responsible for sea level lowering at the west coast of South America (5pts)

8. Look at this website about ice sheets ( https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html ). If all of the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica melted, how much would sea level rise? (5pts)

Part 3: Global temperatures

9. Head to the NASA GISS page ( https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v3/ ) and look at the three graphs under the “Annual Mean Temperature Change for Three Latitude Bands” tab.

a. Describe the general patterns of temperature change in each of these latitudinal bands. (5pts)

b. How is the northern extratropics band changing compared to the other two regions? (5pts)

c. Based on your answer in b, where would you expect ice sheets to melt first, Greenland (northern hemisphere) or Antarctica (southern hemisphere)? (5pts)

10. Now this link (https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/maps/index_v4.html). This NASA database contains global temperature information broken down my month and year. The colors and numbers you see on these maps are how the temperature compares to the average temperature of a 30-year period from 1951 to 1980. So basically, was it warmer or colder than that average and by how much.

a. When you open the page, you automatically see how global temperatures were for March 2021. Was the global temperature warmer than average or cooler than average for that month? (5pts)

b. We had some pretty cold weather in Houston in February 2021, with several days below freezing. But we know that climate change is a global phenomenon; what’s happening in one region does not always represent what’s happening everywhere. To see the map, change the “Mean Period” to Feb. Then hit “Make Map”. You’ll now see the average global temperature map for February 2021. How did Houston compare to the rest of the word in terms of temperature, especially in the northern hemisphere? (5pts)

c. Now change the “Mean Period” to “Annual (Jan-Dec)” at the top of that list and change the “Time Interval” to begin and end in 2020. Then hit “Make Map”. This map is now the average yearly temperature anomaly for 2020 compared to that 30-year average. Briefly describe how it compares to the February only average of 2021 from the previous question. (5pts)

d. Lastly, cycle through maps of at least the last 10 years by changing the “Time Interval” begin and end to different years. Look at each year and the pattern/colors on the maps. What is the overall pattern you see? (5pts)