LessonThreePlan Final

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LESSON 3:

ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING


CLIMATE DATA

Driving Question:
How do you read and analyze weather data, and how can that be used
to understand climate of a particular region and to find how climate is Goal:
changing? For students to be able to interpret
Sub-questions: and analyze climate data in the
 Where do weather observations come from? What and where are form of charts and graphs and be
the NWS-COOP and SNOTEL stations in the San Juans? able to recognize climate averages
 What are climate trends and how can they be identified from and anomalies.
climate data?

Grade Level: Climate literacy principle addressed:


9th Grade  Principle 4 - Climate varies over space and time through both natural and
man-made processes.
Lesson time: 1.25 hours
 Principle 7 - Climate change will have consequences for the Earth system
and human lives.

Learning Objectives:
 Students will become aware of different agencies involved in weather and climate observations
through an interactive lecture.
 Students will understand where historical climate data comes from, as well as problems associated
with these data.
 Students will interactively learn where to find reliable climate data and use online tools to interpret
data for a particular region.

Colorado State Standards & 9R Dashboards for Earth Systems Science - High School:
 Earth Sciences Standard #4: Climate is the result of energy transfer among interactions of the
atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere
 HSS 4b: Analyze and Interpret data on Earth’s Climate.
 HSS‐4e. Analyze the evidence and assumptions regarding climate change (DOK 1‐3) (E)
 HSS 4f: Interpret evidence from weather stations, buoys, satellites, radars, ice and ocean
sediment cores, tree rings, cave deposits, native knowledge, and other sources in relation to climate
change.
Prior Knowledge Required:
 Students must be aware of what factors control climate.
 They should be able to connect this with material from the previous lesson which
described how climate is a function of latitude, longitude, elevation, distance from the
ocean and the large scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation.
 Ability to understand time series plots.
 Understanding of averages, slopes, and variability or errors.

Common student misconceptions and prior understandings:

 Students may not realize the important difference between weather (short term
conditions- weeks to months) and climate (long term conditions – decades to
centuries).

Lesson 1 Materials and Handouts:


 Homework: Climate Data Analysis and Interpretation Worksheet
 Materials:
 Weather Station PowerPoint
 Climate Analysis and Interpretation Worksheet

Background Information:
 SNOTEL background information at:
http://www.stevenswater.com/articles/snotel.aspx
 National Weather Service: http://www.weather.gov
 Local Tree ring study:
http://www.mountainstudies.org/sites/default/files/pdf/education/Animas_treering_br
ochure_RevC.pdf
 Paleoclimatology proxy data information:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/proxydata.html
 Other weather station data: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/station_data/
 Create your own time series website:
http://www.cefa.dri.edu/Westmap/Westmap_home.php?page=mapplot.php
 Colorado State University Climate Trend Graphs: http://climatetrends.colostate.edu/

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Lesson 3 (1.25-1.5 hours)
1. Information on weather stations. Where does weather data come from? What are
some good sources? PowerPoint is available explaining weather station data, and to
be easily shown to students or used to assist teacher. (30 minutes)
 NOAA National Weather Service (http://www.weather.gov/)
 Brief history
 Length of observation
 Long-term mean-define climotology (information on climographs,
which are one of the ways to plot climatology of a place (e.g. see this
climograph for Minneapolis:
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/archive/xpeditions/lessons/1
5/g912/pgafrica4.html?ar_a=1
 SNOTEL
 Brief history and why these sites were established. (SNOTEL sites
were primarily put up to help with stream flow predictions by
monitoring Snow Water Equivalencies at high elevation sites, as well
as have weather station components. These became functional since
the 1980s)
 Bring up:
(http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Colorado/colorado.html) and
look at SNOTEL sites around Durango and ask students to identify
which stations could be useful in making stream flow predictions for
the Animas River in Durango.
 How was climate data acquired before weather stations?
 Go over proxy data and paleoclimatology and define both terms.
 Go over historic data, corals, tree rings, and ice cores. Develop pros
and cons for each.
 Show graphs from local study and explain the importance of tree rings
in water management.
(http://www.mountainstudies.org/sites/default/files/pdf/education/Animas_tr
eering_brochure_RevC.pdf)
 Problems with station and proxy data:
 Problems with instrumentation not working well (e.g. snow deposits
on instruments)
 Changes in station location

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 Changes around the station resulting in inconsistent results (e.g.
urbanization, changes in vegetation and shading)
 Problems with collecting data (e.g. human errors, missing data)
 Uncertainty with proxy data- sometimes more than one factor could
be responsible in producing a particular proxy signal (e.g. tree ring
width in some regions could be affected by both temperature and
precipitation.

2. Analyzing weather station data. Weather station activity. (45 min.)


 As a class, bring up the website http://climatetrends.colostate.edu/ which is a
website that holds weather data that has been judged as offering the most
consistent long-term temperature and precipitation data.
Weather Station Long-Term Trends:
 First, click on station map link at the top of the page.
 Find the weather station Hermit 7 ESE at 9000 ft. on the drop down
menu above the map.
 Click on the house icon on the map and select get RAW Data &
Graphical Plots link. Take note of the short description of the station.
 First, briefly discuss the first mean temperature graph that appears: why
are some areas of the graph missing? What year does data begin?
 To get monthly mean minimum temperature select the data type without
changing any of the parameters. Ask the students what trend they see in
temperature.
 Select data type and select total monthly precipitation link to get total
annual precipitation. What trends do you see? What are the years with
the highest amount of precipitation? What are years with the lowest?

Weather Station Data: Long term vs. Short term


 Now, go back to the station map page and select the Telluride station
from the drop-down list.
 Compare and take note of the missing information to the Hermit station
vs. the Telluride station at 8700 ft.
 When does weather data begin in this plot?
 Change the time period shown to 1990-2009. How do the trends differ?
What sense of average do you get with the short-term average vs. the long-
term?

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Weather Station Data: When do minimum and maximum temperatures
occur?
 Navigate to the Cochetopa Creek station at 8000 ft; compare the average
maximum summer temperature and the average maximum winter
temperature. What trends do you see?
 Show the RAW data link and identify high and low temperatures.

3. Wrap up and discuss homework: Fill out the Climate Data Analysis and
Interpretation sheet for homework attached in homework section which is an
extension of the graph interpretation activity. (10 min.)

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