Increased Emissions: Climate Change, Lines of Evidence

Board on Atmospheric Science and Climate, The National Research Council and the National Academy of Sciences

This video is one of a seven, Climate Change: Lines of Evidence series, produced by the the National Research Council. It outlines and explains what evidence currently exists in support of humans playing a role in contributing to the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

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If video is implemented in middle or high school classrooms, pausing periodically to review and discuss might help students absorb the breadth of the information. Prepare handouts with the different graphs and let students take notes directly on them. Provide students the opportunity to ask questions and research how the data was collected, limitations of the data sets, and assumptions made in the data analysis. The following resources may give students the opportunity to easily analyze the data presented in the video: Mauna Loa CO2 measurements: [link http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/#mlo_data] Concentrations of CO2 from year 0 to 2005: [link http://www.globalchange.gov/HighResImages/1-Global-pg-14.jpg]; Paper written by Revelle and Seuss: [link http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1957.tb01849.x/pdf]; Paper written by Bolin and Eriksson: [link http://nsdl.org/sites/classic_articles/Article8.htm] GlobalView CO2 Map: [link http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/globalview/co2/co2_documentation.html]; Recent Monthly CO2: [link http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/mlo.html]; Ice Age Cycles (800,000 years): [link http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/files/2012/10/Figure-14.png]; Atmospheric Methane, Nitrous Oxide, and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations and Radiative Forcing: [link http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/spmsspm-human-and.html]; Global Methane vs. Time: [link http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/images/methane-global-average-05-2006b.jpg]; Global CFC concentrations vs. Time: [link http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749199000883]; AIRS Mid-Tropospheric Carbon Dioxide animation: [link http://airs.jpl.nasa.gov/news_archive/2010-03-30-CO2-Movie/]; Nations' CO2 production since the Industrial Revolution: [link http://barryonenergy.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/ghg-on-the-rise/]
This video explains why we know that humans have caused greenhouse gas concentrations to increase. Evidence includes measuring atmospheric greenhouse gas inputs and uptakes through direct measurements, satellite measurements, and analysis of carbon isotopes. Comments from expert scientist: The material goes through the main greenhouse gases and provides a discussion and graphs to indicate that they are increasing in a way that is unprecedented in the records up to now. It highlights the molecules --carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide and CFCs and states information about their production and states how they are both natural and produced by humans.
No additional supporting materials. Video is methodical in its historical approach to the story, providing records of the scientists contributing to the study of CO2 in our atmosphere and greenhouse gas concentrations. Science-heavy video covering a lot of data. Because of the wide variety of data covered in this video, students may need additional support to understand the graphs. URLs for the graphics are listed in the "Related URL" field below. Graphs and other visuals may need more time for real understanding.