A day in the life of a climate scientist. Questions How do we know about past climate? Examples of...
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Transcript of A day in the life of a climate scientist. Questions How do we know about past climate? Examples of...
How is Climate Studied?A day in the life of a climate scientist
QuestionsHow do we know about past climate?
Examples of climate data
What is it like to collect data, and what do scientists do with it?
How do we know about past climate? Measurements: (from about 1850 on)
History: books, farming records, art
"I was walking down the road with two friends
when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as
blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling
unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched
over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking,
while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard
the enormous, infinite scream of nature.”
Edward Munch, speaking about his painting “The
Scream” that he painted in 1893
How do we know about past climate?Proxy data: something we can
measure that tells us about something else we can’t measure. For example, I can look at the clothes you are wearing, and whether or
not you are wet to guess what the weather and precipitation outside are like.
If everyone is soaking wet and carrying an umbrella how likely is it that it was raining outside?
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Examples of Proxy Data used for Climate
Tree rings
AndCoralIce coresLake and ocean floorsSoilCave formations
What do these sources of data have in common?What do you think scientists can learn from these?
More Examples of Proxy DataFossils tell us where and when
certain animals and plants lived, letting us know what the temperature and precipitation was like.
Packrat Middens: nests that desert packrats made. They collected all kinds of plants,
and animal waste, which are then “glued” together with their urine.
They serve as a “time capsule” of the plants and animals that were around during the animals lifetime
Research in AntarcticaDave Schneider spends part of the year in
Antarctica taking ice core dataHe analyzes it in laboratories to see how
much oxygen and what kinds of oxygen are in it
That helps him learn what the climate used to be like
He also keeps track of what is happening in Antarctica now
Here are some of his slides about his work and the businesses that help him do his research
Polar Climate Research
David P. Schneider National Center for Atmospheric Research
primary sponsor:
Geology majorLoved field trips and the outdoorsFascinated by Greenland and Antarctic ice core dataEnjoyed winter, found out polar field work not too harsh (in the summer!)Went to grad school, postdoc in Boulder, pursued ‘hot topics’ in polar scienceCurrently compare data and models (desk job, but in Boulder!)
My story
Antarctic Research Challenges
Neff et al., 2008
•REMOTE, HARSH ENVIRONMENT• No permanent occupants• Logistics are challenging and expensive
•FEW CLIMATE OBSERVATIONS• Short climate records• Large climate variability
•DIFFICULT TO MODEL• Global climate models ‘adapted’ to the
temperate and the tropical latitudes do not necessarily do well in the polar regions
Scott’s hut at McMurdo, Antarctica
Dave’s recommended web-sitesDocumentary videoswww.theantarcticachallenge.comwww.extremeicesurvey.org
Colorado businesses that support polar research
http://www.polarfield.comhttp://rpsc.raytheon.com
Atmospheric Research"Careers in Atmospheric Science" video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-uqrXkkG8
Do these careers focus on observational data (measurements) or proxy data?
Are you familiar with any atmospheric research happening now?
That’s right…. HIPPOWhat is the point of HIPPO?
To measure how much of certain molecules and particles are in the air from the north to south pole, and from close to sea level all the way up to the next layer of the atmosphere (the stratosphere.. Most planes don’t go this high)
Why is this important?The information that HIPPO is getting from the
atmosphere is unique. No-one has ever gotten observational data from this many parts of the world, and at all these different altitudes.
Satellites can get some information about the atmosphere by sending radiation to the earth, but it is not as detailed as HIPPO information since they are measurements from far away.
HIPPO lets us know how correct the satellite data is. Why does that matter?
Who runs HIPPO?It takes a team of scientists, managers, and
technicians to make a project like this work
http://hippo.ucar.edu/team/project-directors
HIPPO in the Newshttp://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0911/S0001
4.htm
Answers…How do we know about past climate?
Examples of climate data
What is it like to collect data, and what do scientists do with it?