Recitation1_DownTheUpEscalator!!
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Global Environmental Change – Fall 2023
Recitation #1 - August 30 2023:
"Down the Up Escalator”
Names: Caitlin Barton, Ella Misiaszek
Learning Objectives
In this recitation group activity, you will:
1.
Learn the parts of a time series graph (x-axis, y-axis, data points, trendline)
2.
Define a temperature anomaly
3.
Plot a time series line graph in Excel and plot a linear trend
4.
Appreciate the importance of long-term
trends vs. short-term
variability
Background
That National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is one of several trusted sources for global (land and ocean) temperature analysis data. The temperature data include land-based meteorological
station records in the Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN), which contains
over 100,000 stations in 180 countries and territories. For the ocean, sea surface temperature is reconstructed into grids from ships, buoys, and other ocean-based platforms in the NOAA Extended Reconstructed SST, or ERSST, dataset.
The following provides background information on global surface temperature
anomalies (from https://www.ncei.noaa.gov)
What is a temperature anomaly?
The term temperature anomaly
means a departure from a reference value or long-term
average. A positive anomaly indicates that the observed temperature was warmer than
the reference value, while a negative anomaly indicates that the observed temperature
was cooler than the reference value.
Why use global temperature anomaly instead of absolute temperature values?
Absolute estimates of global average surface temperature are difficult to compile for several reasons. Some regions have few temperature measurement stations (e.g., the Sahara Desert) and interpolation must be made over large, data-sparse regions. In mountainous areas, most observations come from the inhabited valleys, so the effect of elevation on a region's average temperature must be considered as well. For example, a summer month over an area may be cooler than average, both at a mountain top and in a nearby valley, but the absolute temperatures will be quite different at the two locations. The use of anomalies in this case will show that temperatures for both locations were below average.
Using reference values computed on smaller [more local] scales over the same time period establishes a baseline from which anomalies are calculated. This effectively normalizes the data so they can be compared and combined to more accurately
Global Environmental Change – Fall 2023
Recitation #1 - August 30 2023:
"Down the Up Escalator”
represent temperature patterns with respect to what is normal for different places within
a region.
For these reasons, large-area summaries incorporate anomalies, not the temperature
itself. Anomalies more accurately describe climate variability over larger areas than absolute temperatures do, and they give a frame of reference that allows more meaningful comparisons between locations and more accurate calculations of temperature trends.
The NASA-GISS temperature anomaly data set is publicly available directly from
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
In your
groups, you will have about 30 minutes to do the following exercise.
troubleshoot.
1.
Introduce yourselves to your research groups. First Name, Last Name, Major,
and Favorite Season.
2.
Choose one person in your group to be the Data Manager
. Ideally, this person
will be familiar with Excel or Google Sheets.
3.
Open the NASA GISS Annual Global Temperature Anomaly data set file assigned to your group from the “
Down the Up Escalator Groups
” Canvas folder.
If your group is #7 download the “
7 – NASA GISS Temperature.xlsx”
file.
4.
The data manager opens the file in Excel (or Google Sheets).
5.
Plot the data as a ‘Line Graph’, using the ‘Temperature Anomaly, degrees C’ data (column B) as the y-axis (vertical) and ‘Year’ (column A) as the x-
axis (horizontal).
6.
Add a LINEAR trendline to the data. Be sure to display the equation on the
graph. Copy and paste your graph in the space below.
Communicate with your TA or use the Excel/Google Sheets Help to
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Global Environmental
Change – Fall 2023
Recitation #1 - August 30 2023:
"Down the Up Escalator”
7.
The equation of a line is y = mx + b
, where ‘y’ is the y-axis value, ‘m’ is the slope of the line, ‘x’ is the x-axis value, and ‘b’ is the y-intercept (or where the linear trend intersects the y-axis). Answer the following questions:
a.
How many years long is your time series? 10 years.
b.
What is the range in your temperature anomaly values? 0.0-0.5 degrees.
c.
What is the slope (m) of your trend line? 0.0301x.
d.
What are the units
of your trendline? Degrees C.
e.
Is the slope (m) of your trend line negative or positive? Negative.
f.
For this graph, do negative slopes indicate a warming or cooling? Cooling.
g.
For this graph, do positive slopes indicate warming or cooling? Warming.
h.
If the slope is zero, what does that mean about the temperature trend? It would be constant.
i.
Is your short-term trend representative of climate change
? Why or why not? No, it has only measured a decade. You need measure at least 3 decades.
Now that you’ve answered the questions above, assign a second person to be your
Data Reporter
. The Data Reporter will report their results back to the recitation class,
based on the questions above and the class will discuss.
Please turn in your group worksheet on Canvas at the end of class.
Please be sure the Project Manager enters ALL group members’ names to receive full credit.
Submit this page with your graph to Canvas. Please include all group member names!