Global Warming Questions

INSTRUCTIONS: You browser window should be split into two frames. The top frame contains these instructions and questions for you to answer. The bottom frame contains a document on the Biosphere from NASA. In the light tan space at the bottom of that document, is the reference for that document and for another document on Global Warming: Climate Change and Wisconsin from the EPA. When you are finished answering the questions dealing with the NASA document, click on the link to the EPA document and answer the remaining questions.

The objective of this lesson is to learn about some of the connections between the atmosphere and biosphere that affect climate, and about the impacts of global warming in Wisconsin. By the end of this lesson you should know:

how human activities affect the carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere;
some of the different ways in which the biosphere affects local and global climatic conditions (not just global warming);
how the current warming trend differs from past global warming trends;
some specific examples of how global warming might affect Wisconsin.

Type your answers into the text fields (boxes) below. When you are finished, click on the "submit" button to send your answers to your instructor.

Instructor's Name

Instructor's Full Email Address (example:klemke@uwsp.edu):

Your Name

Your Full Email Address (example:klemke@uwsp.edu):

1. When did the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius first propose a connection between human activities and climate change? What was this connection?

2. Based on measurements from Mauna Loa, Hawaii, how much has the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere increased?

3. Vegetation serves as a "sink" for carbon dioxide, thus affecting the climate. List 3 other ways in which vegetation affects climate on a local scale.

4. What controls the carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere on time scales of decades or more?

5. By 2100, climatic changes in Wisconsin may include:

a. an increase in average temperature of

b. an increase in average precipitation of

6. How is the current temperature increase (warming) different from past global temperature increases?

7. List one specific impact of global warming on:

human health in Wisconsin.

forests in Wisconsin.

water resources in Wisconsin.

agriculture in Wisconsin.
ecosystems in Wisconsin.