GEO 101 Earth Sciences on Weather Change

GEO 101 Earth Sciences on Weather Change

Instructions/Descriptions

GEO 101 Earth Sciences on Weather Change

QUESTION 1: WEATHER AND CLIMATE

Part 1: Collecting Local Weather Data

For the first part of this week’s lab, you will need to collect at least five consecutive days’ worth of local weather data. Using measurements from your homemade weather instruments, complete the table below. For those instruments you did not build, use data from a weather website such as weather.com or wunderground.com. Collect your data once each day, keeping as close to the same time of day as possible. For sky conditions, note the approximate percent of the sky that is overcast, and identify the cloud types present if you can. Here is a simple web guide to cloud identification. (Links to an external site.)

Weather Station Data

In a couple of well-crafted paragraphs, reflect on your results. What happened over the course of the week? What is the general story of the recent weather where you live? What patterns do you see in your data? For instance, one means of forecasting stormy weather is through monitoring changes in barometric pressure. What do you wonder about?

Part 2: Local Impacts of Global Climate Change

Imagine collecting more weather data—indeed, imagine gathering weather data for 2,190 times as long as you did. At that point, you would have 30 years’ worth of weather measurements, and only then could a picture of your local climate emerge. Climate is defined as the weather conditions for a particular region, averaged over 30 years. To detect change in climate due to global warming, then, much more than 30 years’ worth of weather data are necessary.

Let’s consider the past 60 years where you live. For this analysis, go to this web page: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/county/time-series (Links to an external site.) and follow the steps below. (Note: In case of a government shutdown or other event that makes this site unavailable, contact your instructor for data sets.)

Let’s begin by comparing one month’s high temperatures over 60 years. From the drop-down menus, choose Maximum Temperature for Parameter. Leave the Time Scale as 1- month. Choose a month you would like to compare—as long as you keep the month specification the same, which month you select does not matter. For Start Year, select 1958. End Year should be 2018. Select your State and County from the drop-down menus. Click on the rectangle labeled “Plot”. A graph of the high temperature values for each year should appear. Take a screen shot of the graph to include with you report. (If you are not certain how to do this, check out this helpful resource (Links to an external site.).) What trend do you notice in the overall trajectory of the graph, as you go from left to right? Is it going up, going down, or staying relatively level?

Next, compare the same month’s low temperatures over the same time range. Leave all of your selections the same, except change Parameter to Minimum Temperature. What does the plot reveal this time? Are low temperatures for your chosen month generally rising, falling, or staying the same in your county? Again, be sure to take a screen shot of the graph.

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Finally, compare precipitation for the same month over the past 60 years. Leave all other selections the same except change Parameter to Precipitation. What does the plot show? Is precipitation rising where you live, dropping, or staying approximately the same? Be sure to take a screen shot of the graph for your report.

Part Three: Global Climate Change

Finally, view the animation at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130731.html (Links to an external site.). (Note: In case of a government shut down or other event that makes this site unavailable, contact your instructor for data sets.) Assess the differences from 1884 to 2011. What particular regions of the Earth have changed the most over that time, and how have they changed? Why might those regions be particularly sensitive to climate change? (This question may require some research in the text or using a credible online resource.)

Lab Report

For your lab report this week, submit an APA formatted paper, according to the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements (Links to an external site.) for all three parts of this lab. Include your screen shots of all three of the graphs that you viewed.

QUESTION 2:

LAB 2:

WATER ON MARS & LIGHT FROM THE STARS

Introduction

Welcome to the final lab activity of GEO 101C! In the first part of this week’s lab, we will leave Earth behind and venture to our neighboring planet of Mars. Using Google Mars, we will explore the terrain of the Red Planet, looking at evidence of past water flow across its surface. In the second part of the lab, you will build a spectrometer, a device for observing the spectra of different light sources. Spectrometers enable astronomers to determine the composition of distant stars, as well as how far away they are from us. Before beginning this lab, take a few minutes to review the list of materials required to complete Part 2, on page 6.

Your final product for this lab will be a lab report. It is not necessary to submit this worksheet. Your report should cover all of the questions you have answered here (in paragraph essay form, not question and answer format). It should discuss how these two tools – Google Mars and spectrometers – can be used to study distant places (planets and stars).

Part 1: Water on Mars

Begin by clicking here (Links to an external site.) to open the website containing the location files you will use this week. Under “Other Materials”, click on “Placemarks – Mars Fluvial Features” to download the file to your computer. Once it is downloaded, open it, and it should open automatically in Google Earth Pro.

Once Mars appears, you’ll have a different set of layers from Google Earth to explore. The Global Maps layer can be used to change the surface layer (you may have to expand this folder to see these options): use the radio button to choose the layer and click the blue layer name to bring up a brief description of that dataset. The “Visible Imagery” contains the highest quality images, but the Viking Color Imagery layer is more uniform and may be easier to use in some places. The Daytime Infrared, Nighttime Infrared, and Colorized Terrain are interesting to explore but will not be used here.

Locate the volcano Apollinaris Mons (also called Apollinaris Patera). The placemark is located on one side of the caldera: zoom out so you can see the flanks of the volcano as well.

Describe the linear features that surround Apollinaris: if these were stream channels, what type of drainage would this be? To answer that question, click here (Links to an external site.) to view a number of different drainage patterns; which one fits the features around Apollinaris the best? Include a simple sketch of the drainage below; take a digital photograph of your sketch to include in your lab report.

Consider the material that makes up Apollinaris: what does the presence of these linear channels suggest about the strength (ability to resist erosion) of the underlying material? Suggest an appropriate composition for this material as part of your answer (note the brief description given of Apollinaris in the instructions above.)

Locate the feature Warrego Valles. This question is best answered using an “eye alt” of about 200 km/120 miles – set your zoom level so the eye alt value in the lower right corner of the window is about 200 km or 120 miles.
In the space below, sketch the general shape of Warrego Valles. Take a digital photograph of your sketch to include in your lab report. What type of drainage does this appear to be – and what implications does this have for how Warrego Valles might have formed? Again, use this resource (Links to an external site.) to help identify the type of drainage pattern present.

Locate the crater Orson Welles and examine the valley that starts at the crater’s NE rim (Shibutani Valles). Briefly describe the valley below. Include a simple sketch of the valley; take a digital photograph of your sketch to include in your lab report. Identify any evidence of erosion/deposition in the valley floor and suggest a process by which this valley may have formed.

Locate Noctis Labyrinths (this feature is on the western edge of Valli’s Marineras, the “Grand Canyon of Mars”).

Assume that water has flowed through this area: what type of drainage pattern is present here? Include a simple sketch of the drainage; take a digital photograph of your sketch to include in your lab report. Again, use this resource (Links to an external site.) to help identify the type of drainage pattern present.

What does this type of drainage pattern suggest about the underlying bedrock?

Locate the “Feature in Eberswalde”, and zoom to an “eye alt” of 11 miles / 18 km with the placemark in the center of the window.
Sketch the feature below and suggest how it may have formed (this is very much a mystery, with no right answer). Take a digital photograph of your sketch to include in your lab report.

Part 2: Light from the Stars (Building a Spectrometer)

The instructions below describe how to build a spectrometer. Here is a link if you wish to view the site where the instructions are from: Lab, Camera, Action: Make your own CD spectrometer (Links to an external site.).

Materials needed:

A CD or DVD that can be sacrificed to this project. Old software CDROMs work great.

A cereal box. Any size that can hold a CD or DVD disk will do.

A sharp knife or razor blade to cut into the cereal box.

Our spectroscope has three main parts. There is a slit made from a razor blade to make a path for the light, a diffraction grating made from a CD disk, and a viewing port.

To construct your spectroscope, you need to put a slice in one side of the box at roughly a 30-degree angle. This will hold the CD. Place the CD in the slot to determine where to place the other two cuts. On the top of the box, cut a hole about half an inch to an inch square above the CD.

On the side opposite the CD, make a very narrow slit opposite the CD. Alternatively, you can cut a larger slit, and cover it with 2 pieces of foil to control the size of the slit. Spectroscope complete!

Photograph your finished spectrometer and include the photo in your lab report. [Order Now]

Once you have assembled your spectroscope with the instructions in the lecture and above, use it to examine the spectra of three different light sources. Make sure that at least one of them is the sun or moon, but the others can be incandescent lights, compact fluorescent bulbs, LED lights, halogen or xenon bulbs, televisions, computer screens, candles, fireplaces, etc. Aim the slit towards the light source you are investigating, then look through the viewing hole to see the spectrum on the disk.

Answer the following questions:

Identify each light source you viewed and describe the spectra you observed from that source. For each description, include colors, if the colors are blended together or separated, and if the colors are fuzzy or distinct.

What feature of the light source do the spectra represent? In other words, what is it that you are actually analyzing?

Why do you think spectrometers are so valuable for studying celestial objects?

Part 3: The Report

Write up your lab in a well-crafted report. The report should cover all the questions from Part 1 and Part 2, along with photos of all of your sketches from Part 1 and of your completed spectrometer in Part 2. Also include a discussion of how these two tools for studying distant worlds, Google Mars and a spectrometer, enable us to make new discoveries. Please adhere to APA formatting guidelines according to the CSU-Global Guide to Writing and APA Requirements (Links to an external site.) for all three parts of this lab.

GEO 101 Earth Sciences on Weather Change

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