1 | P a g e

Climate Change Over Time

Global and Regional Climate

Past Climates

Page 2

Causes of Climate Change

Earth Orbital Variation

Milankovitch Cycle

Plate Tectonics and Ocean Currents

Carbon Dioxide Levels

Page 4

Global Warming

Greenhouse Gases

Carbon Dioxide

Page 7

Kidzone

Page 7

Editorial

Page 8

2 | P a g e

Global and Regional Climate

In this article, we will be discussing

about how the global climate has changes.

All around the earth, there are temperature

changes. Past climates can show how the

global temperature has increased or

decreased over the past years and how

regional climate also increased or decreased

over the past years.

First of all, I should explain what

global climate is. Global climate is the year-

round temperature of the Earth.

Paleonclimatologists use paleoclimate to

determine what the past climates were like

and compare them to present day climate.

Paleoclimate is the study of past climates.

Paleonclimatologist are scientists who

studies Earth’s past climates. Global climate

has increased over the past thousands of

years. Scientists have found that the global

temperature did increased. How did

scientists figure that out? Well,

paleonclimatologists figure this out using

paleoclimate.

Regional climate is climate around

your community. If your hometown is near

the ocean and there are also mountains, your

climate would be cool and humid. Whereas

if you live on the other side of the mountain,

it would be hot and windy. This is called the

rain shadow effect. The rain shadow has a

windward and leeward side. Windward is

the direction the wind blows from and

leeward is the downwind side of an elevated

area.

Coastal communities have lower

temperatures than inland communities.

Though they are on the same latitude, there

is a mountain in the between the

communities. Since there is a mountain in

between them, therefore causing the rain

shadow effect. The rain shadow effect has a

windward and leeward side. On the

windward side, there is more precipitation

than on the leeward side. The windward side

is more moist and cool, while the leeward

side is more hot and dry.

3 | P a g e

For example, here in

Washington State, we have a

rain shadow effect. In Seattle,

the city on the windward side

of the mountain. Therefore it

is cool, moist, and during

different seasons either hot or

cold. The Tricities is on the

leeward side of the mountain.

The climate in the Tricities is

dry, windy, and during

different seasons either hot or

cold. Therefore, Seattle

receives more precipitation

than the Tricities.

How Scientists Study Past

Climate?

Scientists found

that global climate has

been increasing and

decreasing throughout

the past millions of

years.

Paleonclimatologists

use paleoclimate to

determine what the

climate was like back

then. There are different kinds

of ways scientists use to figure

out what past climates were like. Two of the

methods are tree rings and fossil pollen.

Tree ring thickness is related to climate.

Fossil pollens shows the type of plants that

lived there in the past and shows a bit of

what the climate was like back then because

different plants grow in different climates.

Tree Rings

Tree rings can show the age

of a tree. The thickness of tree

rings grows even wider during

warmer climate than cold

climates. Tree rings also grows

wider when the climate is wet and

moist, compare to when it’s hot

and dry. There are some tree

species that live for a really long

time and are most used by

scientists. Bristlecone pines and

giant sequoias are long living trees and most

often used.

Fossil Pollen

Fossil pollen is pollen

from thousands of years

ago. Fossil pollen was

preserved in the

sediments of lakes being

blown in by the wind.

Geologists count the

amount of pollen from

different types of plant.

The change overtime in

the relative amounts of different

types of pollen from various trees

and grasses, gives clues on how the climate

changed in the past.

Bristlecone Pine Tree

Giant Sequoias Trees

4 | P a g e

Other Factors Affecting Climate

There are more than one factor

affecting climate besides humans. Some

of those factors are Earth’s orbital

variation, Milankovitch cycle, plate

tectonics, ocean currents, and carbon

dioxide levels. These factors can cause an

increase of decrease of Earth’s climate.

Earth’s Orbital Variation

Earth’s orbital variation can affect

climate because the obliquity of the Earth

either pointing towards the sun or

pointing away from the sun, the distance

from the sun, and the position of the

Earth.

Obliquity is the Earth’s tilt but

changes over time from 22.5 degrees to

24.5 degrees. The obliquity determines

whether the northern hemisphere receives

more sunlight than the southern

hemisphere or that the southern

hemisphere receives more sunlight than

the northern hemisphere.

The distance from the sun shows

how far away the earth is from the sun.

The distance does not affect the climate

that much. The farthest distance from the

sun is called aphelion and the closes

distance to the sun is called perihelion.

The position of the Earth shows

which season it is. Winter solstice is the

season winter. Vernal equinox is the

season spring. Summer solstice is the

season summer. And lastly, autumnal

equinox is the season autumn/fall.

If the Earth is tilted towards the sun and

at the aphelion point, that would be

summer for the northern hemisphere,

whereas it is winter in the southern

hemisphere because of the obliquity of

Earth’s Orbital Variation

5 | P a g e

Random Facts: 1. It is impossible to lick your

elbow.

2. Hot water is heavier than cold

water.

3. Guinea pigs and rabbits can’t

sweat.

4. Money isn’t made out of paper.

It’s made out of cotton.

5. Earth is the only planet not

named after a god.

the Earth. Therefore, when the Earth is at

the perihelion point and pointed away

from the sun, it would be winter in the

northern hemisphere and summer in the

southern hemisphere.

Milankovitch Cycle

A guy named Milutin Milankovitch

predicted the Earth’s climate are caused

by insolation varies time and with

latitude. He used Earth’s orbital

parameter (eccentricity, obliquity, and

pression) to compute the variations to

insolation.

Scientists now agree that the

Milankovitch cycles are closely related to

the glacial-interglacial cycle.

Climatologist, scientist who studies

climate, are trying to figure out how

Milankovitch cycles of insolation trigger

major change in climate.

Plate Tectonics and Ocean Currents

Plate tectonics and ocean currents

affect global and regional climate

because the locations of the continents

can affect the thermohaline circulation.

Thermohaline means the vertical

movement of seawater. The thermohaline

circulation is also the “global conveyor

belt.”

A scientist, Alfred Wegener,

noticed that the continents fit together

like a puzzle. This is called Pangea.

The locations of the continents

aren’t the only ones that can change the

conveyor belt. When glaciers melt into

the ocean, it changes the amount of

seawater. Therefore, this can cause the

Earth to go into a mini ice age.

Ocean currents can affect regional

climate because the ocean warms up

slowly and cools down slowly. A costal

community near a cold ocean current

would be cooler than the one near a warm

ocean current.

This shows that ocean currents play

a major role in global and regional

climate. This also shows how ocean

currents and plate tectonics respond to

each other.

Carbon Dioxide Levels

Carbon dioxide levels have been

increasing over the past hundreds of

years. As carbon dioxide increased, the

global temperature also increases. Carbon

dioxide produces into the atmosphere by

factory and auto emissions, animal

respiration, etc.

6 | P a g e

Global Warming

Global warming is the overall

temperature of Earth is increasing. As the

world’s climate becomes warmer as a result

to greenhouse gases that humans are adding

to the atmosphere. The world’s climate

naturally experiences warmer years and

colder years, therefore making it harder to

say if the global average temperature is

increasing or not.

In present day, we have satellites to

monitor the land and ocean to make a good

estimate of the average global temperature.

Climatologists rely on the weather stations

for weather records. As temperatures rise,

weather stations have to move away from

urban areas for a more natural result.

Weather stations move away from urban

areas because they’re warmer than rural

areas. This is called the urban heat-island

effect. The urban heat-island effect is when

urban areas are warmer than rural areas. The

urban het-island effect is making it harder to

predict the weather.

Warmer temperature causes there to

be more clouds and more clouds cause there

to be more precipitation. Therefore causing

there to be a change in rainfall pattern. With

the increase of evaporation, an increase of

extreme events, such as stronger hurricanes

and winter snowstorm.

As glaciers melt, the melted water

goes into the ocean, therefore causing sea

level to rise. Also, as glaciers melt into the

ocean, it disturbs the North Atlantic Deep

Water. When disturbed, it can cause us to go

into a mini ice age.

Greenhouse Gases

The reason the Earth is warm enough

to be able to support life is because of

greenhouse gases. Without it, Earth would

be a frozen wasteland. Water vapor is the

most important contributor to the

greenhouse effect. Other greenhouse gases

are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen

oxides.

Carbon Dioxide

One of the effects that warms the Earth

globally are carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide has

effects in Washington State. It can cause

drought and forest fires due to increase of

carbon dioxide. As it increases, it causes the

temperatures to increase. When the temperature

increases, there can be droughts and forest fires

happening. That could cause there to be more

precipitation during winter than summer,

making it harder to plant plants.

7 | P a g e

How do you Keep From Getting Cold

Feet? A- 1 B- 2 C- 3 D- 4 E- 5 F- 6 G- 7 H- 8 I- 9 J- 10 K- 11 L- 12 M- 13

N- 14 O- 15 P- 16 Q- 17 R- 18 S- 19 T- 20 U-21 V- 22 W- 23

X- 24 Y- 25 Z- 26

_ _ _’_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _!

4 15 14 20 7 15 15 21 20 19 9 4 5 2 18 18 6 15 15 20 5 4

1. Why is the slippery

ice like music?

2. What sits on the

bottom of the cold Artic

Ocean and shakes?

3. What kind of math do

Snowy Owls like?

ANSWERS:

1.If you don’t C

Sharp, you’ll B Flat

2. Nervous Wreck

3.Owlgebra

8 | P a g e

In this article, I will be giving

my opinion of global warming. In the

articles, it told you about past

climates, how the climates change,

and what does global warming and

its affect. There are possible steps

to help decrease the global

temperature of the Earth.

My opinion is since we are the

ones who live on this planet; we

should be taking care of our planet.

We should have factories that don’t

release huge amounts of carbon

dioxide. Cars should go greener.

Every time we cut down a tree, we

should plant a new

one.

It shows how

global temperatures

have increased over

time because of the

carbon dioxide

levels. Before humans created cars

and factories that pump out carbon

dioxide, the global temperature did

increase but it was increasing slowly.

Whereas when we started building

factories and cars, we release huge

pumps of carbon dioxide into the

atmosphere, causing the

temperatures to increase even

faster.

Though humans are doing most

of the job of increasing

temperature, there are also natural

factors. Natural factors like

volcanoes, plate tectonics and ocean

currents, and how the Earth is

position ad its tilt.

Greenhouses gases also play

part in why the amount of carbon

dioxide is increasing. The carbon

cycle shows how the carbon dioxide

goes into the atmosphere and how

the carbon dioxide is pulled out of

the atmosphere.

Ways we can help decrease the

global temperature is to go green!

By going green, it helps decrease the

amounts of carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere.

Here is a list of ways below:

The three R’s (Reduce, Reuse,

And Recycle).

Planting more trees.

Using solar energy for your

houses and vehicles.

Editorial