Unit 3 · 8 lessons
Climate Change
How Earth's climate system works, how heat moves through air and water, why greenhouse gases warm the planet, how scientists know the climate is changing, and what the effects and responses look like in Canada and around the world.
- 71 practice questions
- 65 flashcards
- 2 interactive lessons
Lessons
- 1Weather, Climate and Earth's Climate SystemThe difference between weather and climate, the parts of Earth's climate system and how they interact, the factors that shape a local climate, and how climates are classified with the Köppen system and Canada's ecozones.9 questions
- 2Heat Transfer in the Atmosphere and HydrosphereHow radiation, conduction and convection move thermal energy through air and water, why water warms and cools so slowly, and how uneven heating drives winds, land and sea breezes, global wind belts and ocean currents.8 questions
- 3The Natural and Anthropogenic Greenhouse EffectEarth's energy balance, albedo, how greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit infrared radiation to keep the planet warm, and how adding greenhouse gases strengthens the effect and warms the climate.Interactive8 questions
- 4Greenhouse Gases: Sources, Sinks and the Carbon CycleWhere carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, halocarbons and water vapour come from and where they go, how their warming power is compared with global warming potential, how the carbon cycle and the global carbon budget work, and Canada's share of emissions.9 questions
- 5Evidence of Past and Present Climate ChangeHow ice cores, tree rings, lake sediments and fossils record past climates, the natural factors that changed climate before people, the modern indicators of warming, and how to test a cause-and-effect hypothesis with time-trend data.10 questions
- 6Oceans, Water and Climate PatternsHow oceans act as heat sinks, why large bodies of water moderate climate, how surface and deep ocean currents carry heat and affect precipitation, how water in each of its states influences climate, and how positive and negative feedback loops amplify or dampen change.Interactive9 questions
- 7Ozone Depletion, Ground-Level Ozone and SmogWhy ozone high in the stratosphere protects life while ozone near the ground harms it, how CFCs thinned the ozone layer and how the Montreal Protocol is repairing it, how smog forms, and how these problems differ from, and connect to, climate change.8 questions
- 8Impacts of Climate Change and How We RespondThe effects of climate change around the world and in Canada, the difference between mitigation and adaptation, initiatives from individual choices to the Paris Agreement, and how to judge climate claims in scientific and non-scientific media.10 questions