NAME_______________________ Pd.

_________ Date_____________

Climate Change Web-Quest

Directions- Go to: climate.nasa.gov and using the information of the website,
answer the following questions. Write your answers in the space provided.

Key Indicators
1) What is carbon dioxide (CO2) and where does it usually come from? It is the left over
emission of the burning of fossil fuels.

2) According to the CO2 charts, what was the highest level of CO2 in the 400,000 years
prior to 1950?
300

3) According to the charts, what is the level of CO2 today?

400

4) Based on the information on the page, why is this level of CO2 a problem?
It causes the extinction of species and temperature of the earth

5) According to the charts on Arctic Sea Ice, what has been the overall trend since 1980?
It has been going down
6) What trend can be observed for land ice?
It doesnt collect as much carbon dioxide

7) What trend can be observed for sea level?

It has been rising

8) What overall conclusion can you make based on the data of these three charts?

That the world is going to need a miracle to recover from all the carbon dioxide that
is in the atmosphere

Evidence
9) What are eight areas that scientists look at for evidence of global warming?
Sea level rise, global temp rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, declining
arctic sea ice, glacial retreat, extreme events, ocean acidification, decreased snow
cover.

Causes
10) What are the five common gases that cause global warming?
Water vapor. The most abundant greenhouse gas, but importantly, it acts as a
feedback to the climate. Water vapor increases as the Earth's atmosphere warms,
but so does the possibility of clouds and precipitation, making these some of the
most important feedback mechanisms to the greenhouse effect.
Carbon dioxide (CO2). A minor but very important component of the atmosphere,
carbon dioxide is released through natural processes such as respiration and
volcano eruptions and through human activities such as deforestation, land use
changes, and burning fossil fuels. Humans have increased atmospheric CO2
concentration by a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most
important long-lived "forcing" of climate change.
Methane. A hydrocarbon gas produced both through natural sources and human
activities, including the decomposition of wastes in landfills, agriculture, and
especially rice cultivation, as well as ruminant digestion and manure management
associated with domestic livestock. On a molecule-for-molecule basis, methane is a
far more active greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but also one which is much less
abundant in the atmosphere.
Nitrous oxide. A powerful greenhouse gas produced by soil cultivation practices,
especially the use of commercial and organic fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric
acid production, and biomass burning.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Synthetic compounds entirely of industrial origin
used in a number of applications, but now largely regulated in production and
release to the atmosphere by international agreement for their ability to contribute
to destruction of the ozone layer. They are also greenhouse gases.

Effects
11) According to the effects page, what effect will climate change have on water
availability?
It will lessen the amount of water available

12) What visible changes have already occurred due to climate change?
Some species have gone extinct, water covered areas have retreated, and it has been
getting hotter.

Consensus
13) What percentage of scientists agree that climate change is due to human activity?
97%

Innovations
14) Describe three innovations in energy that could help the world become independent
of fossil fuels.

1) Nuclear fission
2) Non-renewable resources
3) Solar energy