S104 Exploring science
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Activity 8.1 Global Warming and Cooling

The aim of this activity is to develop your understanding of how a variety of factors affect the Earth's surface temperature, and of the role that computer models can play in explaining and predicting climate change. You will use a climate computer model, which allows you to change factors, such as the solar constant, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, cloud cover, and so on, and the model will calculate the resulting value of the global mean surface temperature (GMST). You will investigate the sensitivity of the GMST to changes in the various factors, and will then use the model in a more realistic way in which there is coupling between the factors. You will also consider the output of a more complex climate model which can calculate the mean surface temperature at different latitudes. This model also displays seasonal changes in temperature at different latitudes.

This activity is part of Chapter 8 of Book 1, and should be studied at the end of Section 8.2.1. It is important that you read the earlier parts of Chapter 8 before you tackle this activity.

The first time that you use this activity, we recommend that you run through it in the order it is presented.

Estimated study time: 1 hour