Starter quiz
- Match the correct definition to each key word.
- Climate⇔Average weather conditions of a place taken over a 30-year period ✓
- Weather⇔The day-to-day conditions of the atmosphere at a particular place ✓
- Extreme weather⇔Weather that is significantly different to the expected conditions ✓
- What is climate change?
- Short-term fluctuation in local weather patterns
- Long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns on Earth ✓
- Seasonal changes experienced
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- Carbon dioxide, helium and methane are all examples of ______ gases.
- 'greenhouse' ✓
- How long have humans inhabited Earth?
- Around 2 million years
- Nearly 5 million years
- Approximately 200 000 years ✓
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- How do scientists monitor changes to ice sheets and glaciers?
- By measuring the temperature of the ocean
- By using satellite observations, aerial surveys, and ground-based measurements ✓
- By studying the behaviour of polar animals
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- What name is given to maps which use colour scales to show how a variable (e.g. population density) changes over an area?
- Climate maps
- Physical maps
- Choropleth maps ✓
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Exit quiz
- Which geological time period began 2.6 million years ago?
- Jurassic
- Quaternary ✓
- Holocene
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- A glacial period is when temperatures drop significantly. ______ periods are shorter, warmer periods.
- 'Interglacial' ✓
- Which of these sources of evidence about climate change could tell us about climates 400 000 years ago?
- Tree rings
- Ice cores ✓
- Global temperature records
- Fossil records ✓
- Sea level rise
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- Melting glaciers, sea level rise and global temperature records are all used to provide evidence about ______ climate change.
- 1⇔r
- 2⇔e
- 3⇔c
- 4⇔e
- 5⇔n
- 6⇔t
Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Climate has changed in the past through natural causes.
- Evidence for natural climate change include ice cores, tree rings and historical sources.
- Evidence can be used to reconstruct climate change from the Quaternary to the present day.
Common misconception
Climate change has only happened recently.
The Earth's climate patterns have changed numerous times in the past, for example there have been around 50 cycles of glacial (cold) phases and interglacial (warmer) phases in the Quaternary period.
Keywords
Quaternary period - the period of geological time from 2.6 million years ago to the present
Climate change - a long-term change in Earth’s climate patterns
Ice core - a cylinder of ice extracted from an ice sheet or glacier which is used to analyse past climate conditions
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