collection of data and graphics
Watch the video Climate Science: What You Need To Know
Find definitions/explanations for the following expressions: climate change versus weather change, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, carbon footprint.
Climate change is believed to cause extreme weather events such as higher temperatures and increased rainfall.
Select one location in the US. Post the selected location in the assigned Discussion.
Collect data using reliable resources/websites, such as www.data.gov, climatedata.us, www.ncdc.noaa.gov, www.weather.gov, www.climate.gov on:
maximum temperature (Fahrenheit) per month for a year;
total rainfall (inches) per month over a year;
maximum temperature (Fahrenheit) in one month over 30 years (specify the month);
total rainfall (inches) in one month over 30 years (specify the month);
total rainfall (inches) in a year for 20 years.
Provide the source of your data set (provide link to the webpage and title).
Collect your data set in five tables.
Create a graph of maximum temperature (Fahrenheit) per month of a year.
Create a graph of total rainfall (inches) per month over a year.
Select one month, for example June, and plot the maximum temperature (Fahrenheit) over the past 30 years.
Select one month, for example June, and plot total rainfall (inches) over the past 30 years. Do not forget to label the axes for each graph.
Check if there is a correlation between maximum temperature and total rainfall over a year (use a scatter plot).
Create a histogram on total rainfall for 20 years. Decide on the number of classes.
For the data set used in step 8 find the measures of central tendency and spread
Find the five-number summary and potential outliers. Create a box plot for data set used in step 8.
After creating the graphs, discuss if there are any trends, patterns on your graphs (5, 6, 7, 8, 10). In addition, if such pattern is to be noticed, try to predict next years’ maximum temperature (6) and total rainfall (5) for the selected month. Draw your conclusions in one paragraph. (patterns, interesting findings, etc.)
Find and reflect on one article/study on climate.nasa.gov on one topic such as warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat, decreased snow cover, sea level rise, ocean acidification, or other effects that may be caused by global warming. Provide the link to the article and the title as reference. (one paragraph)
