Weather and Climate: Teacher Links

Weather and Climate Book Cover

Teacher Links


Weather and Climate

Learning Pathway Diagrams for this unit:
MS-ESS2-5MS-ESS2-6MS-ESS3-5MS-ETS1-2MS-ETS1-3MS-ETS1-4

Activity 1
Climate Change

a) General Information on Climate Change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Direct Observations of Climate Change
NASA: Evidence of Climate Change

b) Summary of Research on Multiple Effects of Climate Change
UC Berkeley: Researchers find climate change already playing major roles

c) Effects of Climate Change on Lake Tahoe
UC Davis: State of the Lake

d) Climate Change and Drought Causing Schools in Bolivia to Close Early
BBC News: Bolivia schools close early as drought empties reservoirs

e) Climate Change and Water Shortages on Small Islands
International Business Times: Climate change: Small islands to get drier, putting 16 million at risk of water shortages

f) Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
NASA: Sea Level Measurements
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Sea Level Rise
NASA: Sea Level Change
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: NASA’s Earth Minute: Sea Level Rise
Video: Watching Sea Level Rise From Space

g) Climate Change and Severe Weather Events
National Climate Assessment: Extreme Weather
MIT: Study finds more extreme storms ahead for California

h) Climate Change and Hottest Average Temperatures on Record
NASA, NOAA Data Show 2016 Warmest Year on Record Globally (as of 2017)
BBC News: Climate change: Data shows 2016 likely to be warmest year yet
BBC News: Australia’s summer broke 205 weather records, climate group says
BBC News: ‘Very strong’ climate change signal in record June heat

i) Effects of Climate Change on Species and the Environment
BBC News: Climate changing ‘too fast’ for species
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef suffered worst bleaching on record in 2016, report finds
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef survival relies on halting warming, study warns
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef: Two-thirds damaged in ‘unprecedented’ bleaching
BBC News: Warming world harming insects’ reproduction, says study
BBC News: Slims River: Climate change causes ‘river piracy’ in Canada’s Yukon
BBC News: Climate change has shifted the timing of European floods

j) Effects of Climate Change on the Earth’s Wobble
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: NASA Study Solves Two Mysteries About Wobbling Earth
PBS: NASA: Earth’s poles are tipping thanks to climate change

Activity 2
Investigating Local Weather

Weather Underground

Activity 3
Local History of Severe Weather

a) Climate Change and Severe Weather Events
National Climate Assessment: Extreme Weather
MIT: Study finds more extreme storms ahead for California

b) Climate Change and Hottest Average Temperatures on Record
NASA, NOAA Data Show 2016 Warmest Year on Record Globally
BBC News: Climate change: Data shows 2016 likely to be warmest year yet
BBC News: Australia’s summer broke 205 weather records, climate group says
BBC News: ‘Very strong’ climate change signal in record June heat

Activity 4
Climate Types and Distribution Patterns

a) Effects of Climate Change on Species and the Environment
BBC News: Climate changing ‘too fast’ for species
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef suffered worst bleaching on record in 2016, report finds
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef survival relies on halting warming, study warns
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef: Two-thirds damaged in ‘unprecedented’ bleaching
BBC News: Warming world harming insects’ reproduction, says study
BBC News: Slims River: Climate change causes ‘river piracy’ in Canada’s Yukon
BBC News: Climate change has shifted the timing of European floods

Activity 7
Ocean Temperatures

a) Warming of the Oceans
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Livermore scientists find global ocean warming has doubled in recent decades

b) Changes in Sea Ice
NASA: Sea Ice
National Snow and Ice Data Center: All About Sea Ice

Activity 8
Investigating Water

a) Warming of the Oceans
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Livermore scientists find global ocean warming has doubled in recent decades

b) Changes in Sea Ice
NASA: Sea Ice
National Snow and Ice Data Center: All About Sea Ice

Activity 9
Oceans and Climate

a) Changes in Sea Ice
NASA: Sea Ice
National Snow and Ice Data Center: All About Sea Ice

b) Air and ocean currents (animated, live model): (Good for showing currents and Coriolis effect)
An animated map of global weather conditions

c) Weather Related Careers
Geologist Profile
Careers in Meteorology
Careers in Atmospheric Science
Hydrologists in the National Weather Service

Activity 10
The Causes of Climate

a) Coriolis effect:
PBS: The Coriolis Effect Due to Earth’s Rotation
SciJinks What is the Coriolis Effect?
National Geographic: Coriolis Effect Video

b) Air and ocean currents (animated, live model): (Good for showing currents and Coriolis effect)
An animated map of global weather conditions

c) Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
NASA: Sea Level Measurements
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Sea Level Rise
NASA: Sea Level Change
Jet Propulsion Laboratory: NASA’s Earth Minute: Sea Level Rise
Video: Watching Rising Seas From Space

d) Warming of the Oceans
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Livermore scientists find global ocean warming has doubled in recent decades

e) Effects of Climate Change on Species and the Environment
BBC News: Climate changing ‘too fast’ for species
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef suffered worst bleaching on record in 2016, report finds
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef survival relies on halting warming, study warns
BBC News: Great Barrier Reef: Two-thirds damaged in ‘unprecedented’ bleaching
BBC News: Warming world harming insects’ reproduction, says study
BBC News: Slims River: Climate change causes ‘river piracy’ in Canada’s Yukon
BBC News: Climate change has shifted the timing of European floods

Activity 11
Worldwide Wind

Worldwide Wind Interactive

Activity 12
Measuring Wind Speed and Direction

Calibrating your Anemometer
Click the above link to go to a form that computes a two-point calibration so that a student’s anemometer reading can be converted into a known scale, like meters per second.

Activity 14
Atmosphere and Climate

a) Effects of clouds on climate change:
National Science Foundation: Clouds The Wild Card of Climate Change

b) Air and ocean currents (animated, live model): (Good for showing currents and Coriolis effect)
An animated map of global weather conditions

c) Coriolis effect:
PBS: The Coriolis Effect Due to Earth’s Rotation
SciJinks: What is the Coriolis Effect?
National Geographic Video: Coriolis Effect

d) Atmosphere Interactive
Use this link to gather and compare data from different atmospheric levels.

Activity 16
Global Warming

a) General global warming information
National Centers for Environmental Information: Global Warming

b) Changes in concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (animated clips)
NASA: A Year In The Life Of Earth’s CO2

c) Sources of greenhouse gas emissions
US Environmental Protection Agency: Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

d) Climate Models
Bloomberg: What’s Really Warming the World?

e) Global Warming Interactive
Global Warming Interative

Activity 17
People, Weather, and Climate

Geologist Profile
Careers in Meteorology
Careers in Atmospheric Science
Hydrologists in the National Weather Service