Margaret Mooney & Steve Ackerman

Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite StudiesSpace Science and Engineering Center

UW-Madison

Climate Literacy Ambassadors

ESIP Summer meeting July 2010 UT-Knoxville

Global Climate ChangeGlobal Temperature: Has increased by ~0.7°C over the last 100yr. The rate of increase is “accelerating”.

What drives the observed warming?

Figure SPM.1

10,000 5,000 0

Years before 2005 IPCC SPM.1

Industrial revolution and the atmosphere

The current concentrations of key greenhouse gases, and their rates of change, are unprecedented.

Carbon dioxide Methane Nitrous Oxide

How do we know?

IIntergovernmental PPanel on CClimate CChangeThe IPCC formed in 1988 under auspices of the United Nations

Function is to provide assessments of the science of climate change

Scientific community contributes widely and on a voluntary basis

The IPCC Sequence of Key Findings……IPCC (1990) Broad overview of climate change science, discussion of uncertainties and evidence for warming.IPCC (1995) “The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.”IPCC (2001) “Most of the warming of the past 50 years is likely (>66%) to be attributable to human activities.”

IPCC (2007) “Warming is unequivocal, and most of the warming of the past 50 years is very likely (90%) due to increases in greenhouse gases.”

Rising atmospheric temperature

Rising sea level

Reductions in NH snow cover

And oceans..

And upper atmosphere….

Warming is Unequivocal

Climate Literacy

The Essential Principles

The Sun is the primary source of energy for Earth’s climate

system

Climate is regulated by complex interactions among components of the Earth system

Life on Earth

depends on,

is shaped by, and affects

climate

Climate varies over space and time through both natural and man-made

processes

Our understanding of the climate system is improved through observations, theoretical studies, and modeling

Human activities are impacting the climate

system

Climate change will have consequences for the

Earth system and human lives

Humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts

Guiding Principle:

Mitigation

and/or

Adaptation?

Climate Science Literacy is an understanding of the climates influence on you and society

and your influence on climate

For more information please visit http://www.climateliteracynow.org/

A three-tiered program to train G6-12 Teachers to be

Ambassadors of Climate Literacy

1) Workshops

2) On-Line Course

3) Virtual Community

of Climate Change Educators

CLIMATE LITERACY AMBASSADORS Program Overview

* 200 educator stipends are available for participation

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/climatechange/

On-Line Climate Change Curriculum• Funded by UW-Madison• Based on feedback from 2007 teacher summit • Developed collaboratively by four departments (CIMSS, AOS, Geology, CCR) • Consistent with Climate Literacy Framework• Clarifies IPCC report • Beta version debuted summer 2008• 15 teachers took course and provided detailed feedback on each module• Follow-up interviews with independent evaluator

Climate Change Course Outline16 lessons (8 weeks)

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/climatechange/

Climate Literacy Essential Principles

CIMSS was developing the outline for the course at the same timeNOAA & NSF were developing The Climate Literacy Frameworkso we simply wove the two togetheras individual lessons advanced.

First 6 Climate Literacy Principlesare addressed in detail • Interdependency of Life & Climate • Observation & Modeling • Sun’s Energy • Complex Earth System Interactions • Climate changes over time and space • Certainty of human influence on climateThe 7th principle, economic costs & social values, is included but not explored.

Interactive On-line Lessons explaining IPCC Findings

The science behind every graph and every table from the IPCC Summary for Policy Makers is explained along with several images and graphs from the IPCC Frequently asked Questions

In order to engage on-line participants and enhance learning, concepts are delivered via a “slide show RCO” which requires the user to advance slides within each lesson with an option for audio which complements (but not duplicate) the on-line text .

On-Line Activities to enhance concepts in each lesson

Along with audio and interactive lesson content, each lesson features one or more activities to reinforce concepts, many from NASA & and NOAA but most are unique to CIMSS

Infusing NASA data

NASA Langley scientist Dr. Takmeng Wong worked with CIMSS during course revision to ensure participating educators experience hands-on applications working with NASA satellite derived climate data, particularly ERBE and CERES

Earth Radiation Budget Experiment Clouds & the Earth’s Radiant Energy System

IPCC Probability Exercise Using Ice-on/Ice-off data from actual report

What does it mean when the IPCC uses the term likely or very likely?

First, a summary of IPCC Sequence of Key Findings……1990 Broad overview of climate change science, evidence for warming and discussion on uncertainties.1995 “The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.”2001 “Most of the warming of the past 50 years is likely (>66%) to be attributable to human activities.”2007 “Warming is unequivocal, and most of the warming of the past 50 years is very likely (90%)

due to increases in greenhouse gases.”

Probability refers to the likelihood of occurrence of an event. The IPCC uses the following likelihood scale:   Virtually Certain > 99% probability of occurrence   Extremely likely > 95% probability of occurrence   Very likely > 90% probability of occurrence   Likely > 66% probability of occurrence   More likely than not > 50% probability of occurrence   Unlikely < 33% probability of occurrence

   Extremely unlikely < 5% probability of occurrence

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/climatechange/globalCC/lesson9/activity.html

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/climatechange/globalCC/lesson9/activity.html

Work through activity by1) Downloading detailed Instructions (5 pages) 2) Downloading Lake Mendota Ice-on/Ice-off data 3) Using Excel to compare a qualitative interpretation with a quantitative analysis and gain insight into how the IPCC conveys statistical data via a "Likelihood" scale to quantify uncertainty and effectively communicate climate change data and findings to the public.

IPCC Probability Exercise

Activity to explore Past Climates

1) Graph on the right shows 400,000 years of temperature anomalies derived from the Vostok Ice Core sample. As the three main elements of Earth orbit changes are enabled (checkboxes) a magenta-colored line plot is made which combines the sine ways of each element according to their periodicity.

2) The Earth-Sun system depicts the Earth in orbit around the Sun, as controlled by the various checkboxes.

3) The controls: Toggle between orbital plane Label checkbox Eccentricity Precession TiltSeason LockRotationOrbitFaster Orbit

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/climatechange/observations/lesson6/activity.html

Carbon Cycle Applet

Adjust carbon sources and sinks by dragging the green points in the top left graph, then click the Run Projection tab to see the impact on atmospheric CO2 (right graph) and the relative fluxes (bottom graphic).

Reasons for Seasons Applet

Controls: Show View button - sideways or top view Labels - toggle seasons on/off Rotation - toggle Earth's rotation on/off Orbit - check to synchronize rotation & orbit Faster Orbit - check to make the orbit faster Solar Insulation Graph - toggle the graph of the Average Daily Solar Insulation on/off

http://profhorn.meteor.wisc.edu/wxwise/climate/seasons.html

CIMSS Weather & Climate Applets

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxfest/