The Greenhouse Effect Webquest
Name:_________________
Use Google and the various weblinks provided to answer the following questions
The Carbon Cycle
Use the following links to understand the diagram and answer the following questions
http://bcs.whfreeman.com/thelifewire/content/chp58/5802002.html
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/globalcarboncycle.html
What are the sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide?
What is the sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide?
Which processes return carbon dioxide to the lithosphere (make sure you define lithosphere!)
Solar radiation
Look at the graph about Solar Radiation at http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_3_1.htm
The X axis of this graph contains the various sizes of radiation of the electromagnetic spectrum (X rays on the left have the smallest
wavelength, while Radio waves on the right have the largest wavelength). The Y axis of this graph indicates increased concentration of
these types of radiation.
What is the size range of a single wavelength of visible light?
What is the size range of a single wavelength of infrared light?
The yellow line on this graph indicates the types and concentrations of the radiation released by our sun.
What kinds of radiation does our sun release?
Where on the electromagnetic spectrum is our sun’s energy the highest concentration?
Look at the next diagram which shows how the Sun’s energy is either absorbed or reflected by various parts of our Earth system.
How much of our Sun’s energy makes it all the way through the atmosphere to the surface of the earth?
How much of our Sun’s energy is actually absorbed by the surface of the Earth?
Once the energy has been absorbed it is re-radiated from the Earth as what kind of energy?
The Greenhouse Effect
http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/basics/today/greenhouse-effect.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/sci_nat/04/climate_change/html/greenhouse.stm
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/greenhouse/
What are the four major greenhouse gases
Draw a diagram that describes the Greenhouse effect (hint – try typing Greenhouse Effect into Google Images)
The enhanced Greenhouse effect
Define ‘anthropogenic’
Watch http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/global_warming_version2.html
How have human actions enhanced the Greenhouse effect? http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-
warming/
What is the ‘Keeling curve´? http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/introduction/introduction.html
Analysing Carbon Dioxide emissions
Go to http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/co2/sio-baj.html
Make notes on the following
Station name:
Coordinates:
Period of record:
Look at the graphics for overall trends and describe them
Explain the annual cycles in the data (hint: how does a change in season affect carbon dioxide uptake in plants)
Effect of global warming http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/index.html
Find the information using the links at the side of the page.
How much has our global mean temperature increased in the past 100 years?
When did the ten warmest years on record occur?
What year was the warmest year on record?
What has happened to global sea level over the past century?
What are the predictions for global temperatures over the next 50 years? 100 years?