Student Climate Change Research: Challenges and Opportunities

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Student Climate Change Research Challenges and
Opportunities

• David R. Brooks, PhD
• President, Institute for Earth Science Research
  and Education
• brooksdr_at_drexel.edu
• www.pages.drexel.edu/brooksdr
• Thailand workshops,
• January, 2009

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Introduction

• Climate change is one of the most important
  science and public policy challenges for the 21st
  century.
• Today's students will, as adults, inhabit a world
  that may be much different from the present
  world.
• Can students and teachers promote understanding
  of climate change science?
• Can students and teachers contribute to climate
  science?

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What is Climate?

• Climate is not the same as weather, which
  includes short-term fluctuations due to seasons
  and movements of air masses, for example.
• Climate can refer just to regions or the entire
  planet.
• ? average meteorological conditions in a
• particular place (30-year averages)
• ? global conditions (over 1000s of years and
• longer)
• Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you
  get. (science fiction author Robert Heinlein)

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What is Global Climate Change?

• Global climate change means that average
  conditions on Earth are changing. In general,
  these changes have been associated with global
  warming.
• Regional climate changes are already known to be
  occurring (e.g., melting of the Arctic ice cap
  and the retreat of glaciers). These changes are
  occurring rapidly by historical standards and, in
  some cases, more rapidly than scientists
  predicted.
• Most Earth scientists agree that although future
  ice ages eventually will occur, currently the
  entire planet is getting warmer more quickly than
  in the past, and this will cause dramatic global
  disruptions unless it can be controlled.
• Over the last decade or so, some evidence
  suggests that global warming has temporarily
  paused.

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Thailand's Climate
(Describing a regional climate) Thailand has a
tropical climate with high temperatures and high
relative humidity. It is dominated by the monsoon
cycle. April and May are the hottest months. June
brings the start of the monsoon season, a rainy
period that lasts through October. Temperatures
are somewhat cooler in November through February,
with lower humidity and northeast breezes. The
north and northeast are generally cooler than
Bangkok between November and February, and hotter
in summer. Temperatures in Thailand never fall
below freezing (0C).
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Temperature and Precipitation Trends in Thailand,
1951-2002
http//www.greenpeace.org/raw/ content/internation
al/press/reports/ crisis-or-opportunity-climate.pd
f (from Thailand Meteorological Office)
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Global Climate
Temperature inferred from O18/O16 ratios. CO2
measured in trapped air bubbles. CO2 and
temperature are positively correlated, but which
is the cause and which is the effect? Most
climate scientists believe that increasing levels
of CO2 are now causing global temperatures to
rise (the greenhouse effect).
(Data from Russian Vostok Station ice cores, east
Antarctica, a joint Russian, U.S., and French
project.)
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Global Climate Since the Last Ice Age
(Data from ice and sediment cores around the
globe.)
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Recent History
(Since start of Industrial Revolution.)
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Possible Effects of Climate Change in Southeast
Asia

• Sea levels may rise. Bangkok and its surroundings
  are within 1 m of present sea level. Valuable
  coastal farmland will be lost. Disappearance of
  beaches will hurt tourism.
• There may be reduced rice production due to loss
  of land, higher temperatures, and changing
  rainfall patterns.
• There will be consequences if farmers and
  fishermen cannot adapt to changing conditions.
  Spontaneous migration of large populations could
  be financially disruptive and create more serious
  social and environmental problems.
• Higher temperatures demand more air conditioning,
  which increases greenhouse gases and contributes
  to the urban heat island effect.

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What Can We Do About Climate Change?

• Quantify indicators of climate change.
• Attempt to understand what kinds of human
  activities are contributing to climate change.
• Make responsible personal and community choices
  about how we use energy.
• Hold our governments responsible for investing in
  and implementing policies that protect the
  environment and move beyond an economy based on
  fossil fuels.

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The First Big Question
Can students contribute to climate change
research?
My answer Yes, but it is not easy!
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The Second Big Question
Should students contribute to climate change
research?
My answer Yes, because hands-on research is an
essential part of the science process. But, does
research need to be an essential part of the
science education process? Countries, schools,
teachers, and students must decide for themselves.
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Studying Global Climate

• Satellite measurements play a major role in
  understanding global climate (and weather).
• However, ground-based measurements are still very
  important for understanding how to interpret
  space-based measurements.
• Can students collect data locally that contribute
  to understanding global climate?
• How can teachers help their students relate their
  local weather and climate to the global big
  picture?

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How Do We Do It?

• Understand the problems and ask the right
  questions.
• Form partnerships among scientists, teachers, and
  students, and their institutions.
• Make long-term institutional commitments that do
  not depend just on individuals.
• Make the equipment investments required to
  produce high-quality data. (Sometimes these
  investments can be small!)
• Follow international standards for data
  collection.
• Use automated data collection whenever
  appropriate.
• Make a commitment to long-term data quality.
• Focus on local measurements that are related to
  climate change.

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What Can We Measure?
In this presentation, we will consider

• The sun
• Earths atmosphere
• Earths surface

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Bringing the Sun Down to Earth
Weather and climate are controlled by the suns
interaction with Earths surface and atmosphere.
This is a basic topic for Earth science
education. There are many measurements students
can make to improve understanding of these
interactions.
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Organizing Climate-Related Measurements
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Relating the Local to the Global
Local Student Activity Regional/Global Measurement
air temperature climate warming or cooling
surface temperature radiative balance
soil temperature radiative balance, land use changes
surface reflectivity albedo (reflectivity)
aerosols and water vapor transport of pollutants, changing cloud patterns, land use changes, biomass burning
precipitation regional climate changes
sky photography, solar aureole changes in air quality
solar radiation (pyranometry) changes in air quality, cloud patterns, radiative balance, site analysis for solar applications
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Some Things Students and Teachers Can Do

• Photographing the solar aureole and the sky
• Radiometry recording total insolation and UV
  irradiance
• Sun photometry recording changes in aerosol
  optical depth and water vapor
• Reflectivity monitoring changes in surface
  reflectance (albedo)
• Air and soil temperatures monitoring long-term
  changes in soil temperature (related to soil
  moisture)

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The Sun

• Our sun is an average star.
• It generates a power E of about E3.91026 W,
  radiated uniformly in all directions.
• The intensity of radiation decreases as the
  inverse square of the distance from the sun.
• The solar constant is defined as the average
  power per unit area of solar radiation at Earths
  average distance from the sun, R
• So E/(4p R2) 1370 W/m2
• The amount of energy Earth receives depends on
  the time of year. It varies from
• Smax So/(1 - e)2 So/(0.983)2 1417 W/m2 in
  January
• Smin So/(1 e)2 So/(1.017)2 1324 W/m2 in
  July

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Observing The Sun

• Most measurements of the sun lie beyond the
  capabilities and resources of students.
• However, a solarscope can be used to observe
  sunspots and measure the suns rotation.

Sunspots viewed through haze from forest fires
in southern California, late 2003 (NASA)
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The Atmosphere

• The atmosphere is a very thin layer of gases
  (lt100 km) that make the difference between a
  habitable planet and one that would not support
  advanced life as we understand it.
• The atmosphere and its constituents reflect,
  scatter, and absorb sunlight.

Table 2.2. Composition of pure dry air near
Earths surface.
Gas Percent by volume(dry air) Cumulative percentby volume
N2 78.08 78.08
O2 20.95 99.03
Ar 0.934 99.964
Other trace gases 0.036 100.000
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Trace Gases in the Atmosphere
Table 2.3. Trace gases in the atmosphere.
Component Approximate percent by volume and parts per million (ppm)
Water vapor (H2O) 0 4
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 0.037 (370 ppm)
Methane (CH4) 0.00017 (1.7 ppm)
Nitrous oxide (N2O) 0.00003 (0.3 ppm)
Ozone (O3) 0.000004 (0.04 ppm)
Aerosols (liquid qne solid particles) 0.000001-0.000015 (0.01-0.15 ppm)
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 0.00000002 (0.0002 ppm)
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The Greenhouse Effect

• Some scientists define a habitable zone around
  a star as the range of distances over which water
  can exist naturally as a liquid. Does Earth fall
  within this zone?
• The Earth/atmosphere system must be in radiative
  balance
• So, Earth lies outside the habitable zone!

incident energy (pr2)So absorbed energy
(pr2)So(1 A) emitted energy (4pr2)sT4
Emitted energy must equal absorbed energy, on
average (pr2)So(1 A) (4pr2)sT4 or So(1
A) 4sT4 Solve for T, using A0.3 (average
global albedo) T So(1 A)/(4s)(1/4)
1370(1 0.3)/(45.6710-8)(1/4) 255 K
-18C
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The Greenhouse Effect

• How can Earth support advanced life if it lies
  outside the habitable zone?
• Earths actual average surface temperature is
  about 16C. This is made possible by trace gases
  (greenhouse gases), including water vapor, in
  the atmosphere
• So(1 - A) 4sT4(1 x)
• where x is a greenhouse parameter. For Earth,
  a value of about 0.4 produces an equilibrium
  temperature of about 16C.

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Observing The Atmosphere

• Some properties of the atmosphere can be observed
  directly
• ? clouds (type and coverage)
• ? visibility (haziness)
• ? solar aureole (with a camera only!)
• Other properties can be measured indirectly from
  Earths surface
• ? aerosols
• ? water vapor

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Sky Photography

• The aureole is the circular region of
  light-colored sky around the sun. It is caused by
  scattering from dust and other aerosols in the
  atmosphere. A very clear sky produces a small
  aureole, and a very dirty sky can produce a
  very large aureole.
• Digital photographs of the sun can be analyzed to
  determine the size of the aureole, which can be
  related to atmospheric conditions, including
  aerosols.
• Photos of the sky, pointing away from the sun,
  can also be related to air pollution and aerosols.

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Sky Looking North at Solar Noon
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Twilight Glow from Polluted Sky
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Photographing the Solar Aureole
Do NOT look through an optical viewfinder!! Direct
sun photos may damage a digital camera.
Canon PowerShot A530, F5.6 _at_ 1/1600 s. Use the
same F-stop and shutter speed for every
photo.
ImageJ software, available as a free download
From http//rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/download.html
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How Does Sky PhotographyBecome Climate Science?

• Always use the same camera one with manual
  settings for focus, exposure time, and f-stop.
• Use the same f-stop and exposure settings, and
  focus at infinity. (Do not use automatic
  settings.)
• Use the highest resolution that your camera
  supports.
• Always photograph the same scene, and include a
  little land or water below the horizon, to track
  seasonal changes on the ground.
• Photograph the scene at the same time of day, for
  example, sunset or solar noon.
• Do not apply digital enhancements or resize or
  compress the image.
• Collect images regularly over long periods of
  time.
• Keep careful records about scenes, dates, times,
  and camera settings, including your latitude,
  longitude, and elevation.

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Earths Surface

• There are two basic areas of interest
• ? weather
• ? climate
• Weather is easy to measure, but climate is not!
• Weather measurements can be made over short
  periods of time. Climate must be measured over
  very long periods of time.
• Climate measurements require a long-term
  institutional commitment.

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Measurements at Earths Surface

• Basic meteorological measurements (air
  temperature, wind, precipitation, relative
  humidity)
• Solar radiation
• Soil/water temperature
• Surface temperature
• and reflectivity

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Measuring Air Temperature

• The international standard is a Stevenson
  screen
• The GLOBE thermometer shelter is smaller. Are
  temperatures different? I dont know.

Stevenson screen
GLOBE shelter
80 x 61 x 59 cm
50 x 28 x 20 cm
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Air and Soil Temperature in Pennsylvania
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Does Anybody Need More Temperature Measurements?

• Yes! There are hardly any long-term simultaneous
  records of air temperature and soil temperature.
• These data are important for agriculture and pest
  management.
• Changes in soil temperature can be indicators of
  climate change (for example, melting permafrost).
• The relationship between soil and air temperature
  depends on soil moisture, another indicator of
  climate change (in tropical climates?).

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Measuring InsolationStudent Pyranometer Data
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Site Evaluation for Solar Power
1-minute values of insolation
integrated over 24 hours.
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Cloud Climatologies in Texas
1-hr means and standard deviations of 1-min
samples
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Broadband and Near-IR Reflectivity
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UV Radiometry
Smoke in the atmosphere reduces UV radiation
reaching Earths surface. This can disrupt
ecosystems and may be associated with bird flu.
UV-A radiation can be monitored with a
relatively inexpensive (150) radiometer. It
uses a blue LED that responds to radiation with
a strong peak around 372 nm. Mims, Forrest
M. III. Avian Influenza and UV-B Blocked by
Biomass Smoke. Environmental Health
Perspectives, 113, 12, 806-807, December 2005.
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Measuring Aerosols

• Sun photometers can be used to monitor absorption
  and scattering of sunlight by particles in the
  atmosphere (aerosols), by measuring the aerosol
  optical thickness.
• The effects of aerosols are one of the larger
  uncertainties in computer models used to predict
  future climate.
• The sun photometer shown here uses LEDs to
  measure aerosol optical thickness at green and
  red wavelengths.
• Hundreds of these instruments have been used
  around the world, with student data included in
  papers published in peer-reviewed science
  journals.

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Aerosols in Rural Arkansas
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Aerosols in Puerto Rico
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Water Vapor in Puerto Rico
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Conclusions

• I have briefly described some ways that
  scientists, teachers, and students can work
  together to understand Earths climate. Other
  scientists will have other ideas.
• Students CAN make significant contributions to
  climate science research, because predictions of
  future climate depend on having many sources of
  reliable long-term data.
• The stable physical environment around schools
  provides major advantages for this kind of
  research.
• Climate change research must be conducted over
  the long term years, rather than months.
• School-based student research must be chosen
  carefully and conducted in collaboration with
  scientists.
• School administrators and the education
  establishment must be willing and able to provide
  long-term institutional support, including
  science support that goes beyond what is required
  just to meet educational objectives.

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Thank you for the opportunity to discuss
student/teacher roles in understanding and
measuring climate change.I hope there are many
questions!