BaCCC/Module 1/Lesson 3/Part 1

Module 1, Lesson 3: Climate Change: Measuring, Monitoring and Observing Trends

Climate Science Milestones Two Centuries

Introduction

In the previous lesson, you learnt about the climate change process and its causes and effects. Do you still remember that as you teach people about climate change, you need to convince them with facts and, even more, relate the science to what they are experiencing and what they care about? In this lesson, you will focus on evidence of climate change. You will explore climate change websites such as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and your own national climate science website. Through these websites, you will learn some indicators of global warming and how they are monitored and measured.

Lesson Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

• look for and find credible information on the climate system and climate system change;
• use graphs from various sources, including NOAA and NASA, to describe the current state of planet Earth;
• use different forms of media to communicate climate change awareness messages; and
• explore your national sources of information on climate change.

Terminology

The following terms are important in understanding the science behind climate change. If you want to remember them, write their meanings in your learning journal as you encounter them in the course content.

• claims
• commitment
• data sets
• evidence
• indicators
• irreversibility
• models
• projections
• proxies
• trends

Where do we find credible information about climate change?

Though there are many sources of information on climate change, most are from the Internet. At this point, we will focus more on those related to the science of climate change. For instance, when we talk of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, ocean acidification or rising temperatures and sea levels, what is the source of that information, or where is the evidence?

Who told you?

To answer this question in a convincing way, you have to know and give credible sources of information. You cannot say, “According to my Science teacher or my parents . . .” You need to state credible people, organisations or institutions who have the resources to collect such information. In other words, your sources must be scientifically acceptable and base their information on good evidence.

Where is the evidence?

You need to know where and how to look for climate change evidence, especially from the Internet. The evidence may be in the form of data collected, videos recorded, satellite images, reports from government departments, postsecondary institutions, credible organisations and companies, and published documents or books. You can also visit your local or national climate change office or any meteorological department or office.

Activity

The sources in the chart below give different types of information on climate change. Copy the chart to your learning journal; then surf the Internet to discover what type(s) of climate change information is provided by at least three of these sources.

Possible sources of climate change information

	Source of information	Type of information
1	Your local or national meteorological station
2	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (especially fact sheets, frequently asked questions / FAQs and headline statements)
3	NASA
4	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
5	World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
6	United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC)