The purpose of this writing assignment is to help you understand how the ocean affects the global climate, and to inform you about the climate change debate and possible consequences of climate change.

Note: This is a "Calibrated Peer Review" assignment. Your lab book explains how this works.

The assignment contains the following sections:

  1. Introduction
  2. Causes of Earth's Climate
  3. Summary of the history of the earth's climate
  4. Historical climate change
  5. Predicted climate change and various scenarios of consequences of climate change
  6. Policy recommendations: how should our institutions respond, how should we personally respond?

Data links for this assignment: <data links>

Preparation for the assignment:

  1. Carefully read the assignment description and what content will go into each of the paper sections
  2. Review "Writing with Integrity" from your lab book <download it>
  3. Read or review the lab week 6 in your lab book. Understand the major influences on our climate system. Understand the idea of climate feedbacks. <downloads: 1, 2, 3, 4> The paper data links also have a lot of info on the climate, so pay attention to that material too.
  4. Browse the links on the assignment data page <assignment data>
  5. Google on the subject to find resources and references

You will need to exercise caution when analyzing and referencing web pages. The critical thing is to determine the difference between reputable, contrarian, and whacko web sites. Read "Analyzing Scientific Claims, Evaluating Web Sites" in your lab workbook <download it>. When referencing, be sure to identify the viewpoint of the website authors. Is it a government agency, energy industry, environmental group, university scientist? Especially for contrary viewpoints, browse the site to see if the author has an "axe to grind" or is generally contrary about many science issues. Is the web site up to date? The science changes rapidly. Newer findings may have solved an older controversy. Is there a political bias? Sites run by political organizations generally favor one point of view over another and may selectively report on studies that support their view, ignoring new studies that are contrary.

Paper sections content:

1) Introduction: a brief introduction to the topic. Don't get into too many details. The point is to capture the reader's attention by explaining what you will discuss and why it is important. How can you do this in less than 150 words?

2) Causes of Earth's Climate: What are the major factors that cause the earth's climate? Only a brief discussion of each factor is needed. For example: The atmosphere causes the greenhouse effect because it traps the sun's heat, warming the earth. Or: "blah blah gas is a greenhouse gas which tends to warm the earth when concentrations increase." So, you want to name the factor and state the effect it has on climate. Don't forget to mention the earth's place in the solar system as it relates to climate. Figure 6 of the lab 6 reading is a good diagram of factors affecting the earth's surface temperature.

3) Earth Climate History (last 400,000yrs) : this section will include a discussion of the earth's past climate using data from paleoclimate studies. Show the data plots and explain how the temperatures were gotten from the data, and the accuracies or limitations of the data. Be quantitative. Be sure to cover major changes due to ice ages.

4) Historical Climate Change (~last 200yrs): how has the climate changed during recorded history? How do these changes compare to natural changes determined in the paleoclimate data? Try to find multiple ways that global temperature rise is measured or inferred. Is there contrary evidence of global temperature rise? Is the contrary evidence credible? Why or why not?

5) Climate Change Scenarios: what might happen if the climate does change by predicted amounts? What are the worst consequences that could happen? What are the most likely consequences?

6) Policy Recommendations: how should world governments respond to the possibility of climate change? What programs are already in place or being implemented (hint: think "Kyoto" and "Carbon Emissions Trading"). Are the programs too expensive? Should we act now? Is the science good enough? What kind of actions should be taken by the United States? What kind of actions should an individual take? How should policy decisions respond to uncertainties in the predictions?

Ways students improve their grade:
1) Start early so there is time to interact with the TA and Prof., and recover from any computer problems.
2) Read the instructions.
3) Write clearly and briefly. If you were telling your non-science friend about this, how would you express it to him/her?
4) Explicitly demonstrate how the data that you illustrate lends support to your argument(s). It is not enough to just show a data plot. You must describe the salient features and show how it supports your assertion(s).
5) Attend class, where these issues are often discussed.

Ways students sometimes lower their grade:
1) Don't read the instructions for the assignment
2) Don't read "Writing a Science Paper", which clearly spells out how to write this paper.
3) Use too many figures
4) Use too few figures
6) Write a "book report" where no data are used.
7) Don't use a location map
8) Don't annotate figures
9) Don't start until the last evening before the due time
10) Don't interact with your TA or professor when questions arise. This can happen when you start so late that they are not available.