NOVA: Climate Change

WGBH Teachers Domain

This video segment describes climate data collection from Greenland ice cores that indicate Earth's climate can change abruptly over a single decade rather than over thousands of years. The narrator describes how Earth has undergone dramatic climate shifts in relatively short spans of time prior to 8000 years ago. The video and accompanying essay provide explanations of the differences between weather and climate and how the climate itself had been unstable in the past, with wide variations in temperature occurring over decadal timescales.

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Notes from our reviewers

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The video would be a great conversation starter or could be used before or after conducting ice core activities. The discussion questions could be used as a starting point for discussion. The fact that climate has changed in the past and will change abruptly in the future holds existential challenges ("why bother reducing carbon emissions if climate may change suddenly anyhow?") for educators. Focusing on adaptation as well as mitigation may help in framing this challenging topic.
The dynamics of abrupt climate change are the primary focus of the video; once boundary conditions and thresholds are reached, the climate system can shift quickly and significantly. Video explains how ice core analyses are conducted and how rates of climate change are measured. Evidence from ice core data indicates that climate changes in the past can occur suddenly; therefore, there is also the potential for abrupt climate change in the future. High-quality imagery. Comments from expert scientist: This material first elaborate a key science activity in the history of climate science and then provides evidence obtained from this science activity to reveal the core information of this material, the abrupt climate change noted from the greenland ice cores. It effectively outlines the abrupt changes to the Greenland Ice and human involvement in said changes.