Week 14: Causes of Climate Change

 

  1. What did you do in lab today? This week in lab, we watched a video that discussed the science of climate change, and we also had a chance to work with an online simulation. This lab allowed us to play around with different molecules and observe how they were different from one another. I learned through this lab that the molecules that are vibrating are the major greenhouse gases. ​
  2. What was the big question? "What are the major causes of climate change?"
  3. What did you learn in Thursday’s discussion? In discussion this week I learned more about the albedo effect- both what it is and what it means. The albedo effect is the reflectivity of a surface, and I learned more specifically that an Albedo that = 1 means that it completely reflects radiation. Likewise, an albedo that = 0 completely absorbs radiation. ​
  4. Read the online textbook chapter:                                                                                  What did you learn?​ While reading the textbook, I was able to learn more about a polar vortex and what that is. A polar vortex, which is an example of weather and not climate (though it is likely that the planet will be experiencing these more frequently) is a system of freezing air. The vortex occurs when the jet stream is unstable and warps from it's normal pattern. This caused extremely cold arctic air down to the midwestern US, while areas of Alaska experience warm weather.                                                                                      What was most helpful?​  The most helpful part of this textbook section was the diagram that described the polar vortex. It was surprising to me that I haven't heard or learned about this before, given I grew up in the midwest where it occurred. The diagram really helped enhance my understanding of what a polar vortex is, and I feel like visuals always help me better comprehend information that I am learning.                                                            What do you need more information on?​ Something that I would like more information on is why Donald Trump wanted to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord in 2017. I know there is a lot of information online that talks about why he chose to pull out of the accord, so I plan on educating myself more on that. 
  5. What questions, concerns, and/or comments do you have? A concern I have is the damage that is going to be done to ecosystems everywhere in the world, but specifically the ecosystems that survive off of coral reefs. In the textbook, I learned that more than a quarter of coral reefs have died worldwide in the last three decades, which is detrimental to lots of ecosystems. 

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