Investigation 7: Exploring Climate Change

PDF versionPDF version

To learn more about climate proxies, visit the following web sites:

Proxy Climatic Data, NOAA Paleoclimatology Program
This site provides links for several different climate proxies including: Historical Data, Corals, Fossil Pollen, Tree Rings, Ice Cores, Ocean & Lake Sediments

Summary for Policymakers: The Science of Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (United Nations)
Review a list of facts and statistics about Greenhouse gases, anthropogenic aerosols, climate change over the past century, the evidence for human influence on global climate, future climate change, and remaining uncertainties.

Fossil Groups: Spores and Pollen, USGS
"By analyzing pollen from well-dated sediment cores collected at critical sites, it is possible to obtain high-resolution records of vegetation change with decadal-scale resolution and to document community changes over the last few centuries and millennia."

Photo Gallery of Trees and Tree Rings, University of Tennessee
Dendrochronology. Questions and answers on tree-ring research.

Classic References in Dendrochronology, University of Tennessee
Dendrochronology.

Dendrochronology, Leonard Miller
Provides information on the principle and the importance of dendrochronology.


To learn more about ice cores, visit the following web sites:

Why Study Ice Cores, National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)
This site includes a brief description about why ice cores are an important source of information.

How is it done?, National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)
This section of the National Ice Core Laboratory web site takes you step by step through the process of taking, obtaining, studying an ice core.

Warnings from the Ice, NOVA Online
Learn how ice cres can give evidence for past weather events and see and ice core timeline.


To learn more about past glaciations, visit the following web sites:

All About Glaciers, National Snow and Ice Data Center
This site includes four major sections:

  1. data and science,
  2. general information,
  3. glacier news,
  4. and the glacier story.

Ice Ages in New England, UMASS
This page provides some general description as well as photos about the last glaciation of New England.


To learn more about causes of climate change, visit the following web sites:

Climate Change Indicators in the United States, EPA
This fact sheet explains how human activity may be affecting the climate

IES Climate and Weather cover art
AGI/It's About Time

 

AGIF Logo
AGI's professional development programs for teachers are supported by generous contributions from corporate contributors of the American Geosciences Institute Foundation and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation.