Climate Change

What is climate change?

Significant alterations in global temperatures and weather patterns, primarily driven by human activities like fossil fuel burning and deforestation.

What evidence do we have that climate change is happening?

Rising global temperatures, melting glaciers and ice caps, increased frequency of extreme weather events, observable shifts in wildlife patterns and habitats.

Climatograph

A graphical representation showing temperature and precipitation over a period.

How can tree rings indicate past climate conditions?

Wider tree rings suggest favorable growing conditions, indicating past climate conditions.

What are ice cores?

Cylindrical samples from ice sheets that trap air bubbles from the past, revealing historical atmospheric composition and temperatures.

What do coral rings indicate?

Growth patterns impacted by water temperature and acidity, providing data on historical climate conditions.

What is happening to glaciers and ice sheets?

They are melting at an accelerated rate, contributing to rising sea levels.

What changes are Inuit and indigenous peoples experiencing due to climate change?

Changes in seasonal weather patterns, wildlife migration, and thinning ice affecting their traditional ways of life.

Global warming

Increase in Earth's average surface temperature due to human activities.

Greenhouse gases

Gases like CO2 and methane that trap heat in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse effect

The process by which greenhouse gases accumulate and warm the Earth's surface.

Weather

Daily atmospheric conditions.

Climate

Long-term patterns of temperature and precipitation in a region.