Global Warming Day 2

Today we revisited global warming and climate change. Our two main questions for today were:

1. How does an increase in carbon dioxide lead to an increase in global temperature?
Solar radiation hits the Earth and some of it is absorbed and some is reflected back into space.  Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which means that it re-reflects this energy back to the Earth.

Image from:  http://www.nps.gov/goga/naturescience/images/Greenhouse-effect.jpg 

This reflection back to Earth can lead warmer temperatures.  As the oceans get warmer, more ice melts, as more ice melts, there is less ice to reflect the light away from the Earth, as more....well, you get the idea.

image from:   http://www.350resources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/iceposfeedbacksmall2.jpg 

This is an example of a positive feedback loop.

2. What are the impacts of a change in temperature on living things?
Here's the list of things you came up with in class to answer this question:
* As temperature increases, it pushes on the zones of tolerance of organisms.  This can impact their niche.
* Changes in temperature can impact migration patters of organims
* Tangle food webs but putting stress on areas that weren't stressed before --> boom and bust of populations
* Impact geography (ice melt)

Homework: Study for your mental inventory tomorrow!