Category Archives: Earth System Science

Climate-Change Misconceptions, Part II: Partial Misconceptions

Understanding something as complicated as climate change is really tough. So it’s easy to understand why people don’t always get things right. But it’s much easier to explain why the term “global warming” is misleading than it is to explain … Continue reading

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Climate-Change Misconceptions

As noted in previous blogs, many of us don’t understand the terms people use in describing climate change; nor do we always understand how ideas related to global climate change relate to everyday life. So I decided it would be … Continue reading

Posted in Air Temperature, Atmosphere, Climate Change, FLEXE | Leave a comment

Carbon Dioxide, Part 3: A Global Look

The amount of CO2 given off by industry in a year Figure 1 is a diagram of the carbon cycle from the GLOBE Carbon Cycle Project, based at the University of New Hampshire. This diagram shows where the carbon is, … Continue reading

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Carbon Dioxide, Part 2: Walk, Drive a Car, or Ride a Bike?

The blog about carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by our bodies during respiration created so much discussion that I decided to work harder to put the numbers into context. Last time, we calculated an average adult human breathes out between 0.7 … Continue reading

Posted in Atmosphere, Carbon, Climate Change, Data included, Earth as a System | 3 Comments

Release of carbon dioxide by individual humans

This blog was inspired by activities at the 2008 GLOBE Learning Expedition (GLE) in South Africa. As part of their field activities, the students visited the Global Atmosphere Watch station (GAWS) at Cape Point, where carbon dioxide and several other … Continue reading

Posted in Atmosphere, Carbon, Climate Change, Data included, Earth as a System | 2 Comments