If you did not look at the sky on the way to lab, please take a
stroll outside the library and look up.
Tell us what type or types of clouds you observed walking to class. What
fraction of the sky was covered by what type of cloud? Was the local weather
about what was forecasted?
As a reference use
Weather Outreach Cloud link
or
S'cool link .
Chapter 1
This short exercise is intended to familiarize you with the some of the issues raised in Chapter 1 of the text.
The Concentration of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere
The Mauna Loa record of carbon dioxide concentration begun by C. David Keeling
of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography plays a prominent role in this
course. Since 1974, the NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory has
extended this record in combination with observations at three other sites:
Barrow Alaska, Tutuila American Samoa, and the South Pole.
Go to the
NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory
webpage and browse around familiarizing yourself with how carbon
dioxide is measured routinely in the atmosphere. Be sure to check
out the page with the figures.
Using the interactive map answer the following questions:
- 1. Where is the nearest (to Salt Lake City)
CCGG Cooperative Air Sampling Network site measuring
carbon dioxide?
- To look at the data:
a. Move cursor over map to view available data sets
b. Select a single site from map, list, or word search on the left panel of the page
Use the
site
showing continuous measurements of carbon dioxide
at various stations in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Why is the seasonal variation of carbon dixoide greater in the
Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere?
(Hint: Check Chapter 1 of the text)
- What has been the typical growth rate in carbon dioxide in (ppm/yr) in
the past decade for 4 different stations on these maps? Approximate a straight line through the points and take the slope of that line.
Remember slope=difference in y/difference in x values
rate=difference in ppm/difference in time
- Where are the four baseline observing stations? They are found on the left side of the webpage.
- Notice that these four baseline observing stations are located in REALLY out
of the way places. Can you speculate on why they chose
to locate their facilities away from big population centers?
Exploring Other Subjects in Depth While being skeptical
Put on your skeptic hat and find an article on the web or from http://www.weatheroutreach.org/5.html. Comment on what you learned and what parts of the article you think might be wrong.