S cool cloud identification chart

Semester Project: Planet Earth
Instructions if project has already been done in a previous semester
If you have already done this project in a previous physics course at Mountain View, then please do the following:

1. Participate in a different sustainable activity than last time.

2. In your project report, add a section (about 2 paragraphs) on clean energy sources. Clean energy sources (also called renewable or carbon-neutral energy sources) include hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, solar, waves, tides, biofuels, and hydrogen.

3. Please submit at least one GLOBE cloud observation. Instructions on how to submit a cloud observation are below.

4. Complete the three indicators of climate change graphs. For temperature, please use January as the month. You may also compare plots for temperatures in January to those in July.

5. Add a paragraph in the “Discussion” section about how the lifetime of CO2 in the atmosphere can affect future generations. CO2 can last in our atmosphere for thousands of years, please see page 7 of the “Instructions in Detail” document for more information.

6. Complete the extra problems related the Quantitative section given below (sea level rise). Paste these extra problems to the remaining questions and answers in the quantitative section. Make sure you have answered all the questions in the quantitative section, since some questions may have changed, or new questions may have been added.

7. Complete all the other sections of the semester project as usual. You may reuse the parts you have already completed. See item 8 below for more information.

8. How to write the new report:

you can edit your previous project report to reflect the new things you learned from your research this semester. This means, you do not need to rewrite the entire project, you can edit the relevant parts of it to update your report. You can add additional in-text citations, and references as necessary. Also, please feel free to explore any additional topics you may have learned about and got interested in while working on your project this semester. Make sure you incorporate the instructor’s corrections and comments from your graded report from last semester. After you have done these things, your report will be a more informative, improved version of your previous report.

Quantitative component extra problem on sea level rise

The graph above (thick black wavy line) shows the change in average global sea level since 1880.

Q1. If the sea level in the year 1910 was 0 meters, and the level in year 1980 was 0.15 meters. What is the average rate of change in the sea level per year in the units of meters/year, between the years 1910 and 1980?

Hint: find the slope of the thick black line. Please show your calculations.

Answer:

Q2. If the sea level for any year (t) can be found using the following equation:

h = 0.0021(t) - 4.011

where h is the sea level in meters, and t is the year.

What will the sea level be (in meters), in the years listed below?

Hint: substitute the year in place of t in the above equation and calculate h.

a) 2000?

b) 2050?

c) 2150?

Answer:

Please show your calculations

References
1. Odenwald, S. (n.d.). Space Math @ NASA. Retrieved from https://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/SpaceMath.html

GLOBE observer program.

NASA is doing research on changes in our atmosphere. As part of this research, NASA is studying the differences between clouds and aerosols (particles in the atmosphere such as dust, chemicals, and smoke). NASA needs your help with this research. The procedure is simple and does not take much time.

1. Download and install the GLOBE Observer app on your smartphone at:

https://observer.globe.gov/about/get-the-app

You can search for this app on your phone’s app store.

2. After you download the app, register yourself as a user using your email address and location.

Start the app and submit observations of clouds in the sky. The app will guide you with what needs to be done step by step. You will need to select the types of clouds seen, the weather conditions, etc. There is a cloud identification chart to help (please see below). The data you submit will be used by NASA to study how our atmosphere is changing.

Tips on how to submit observations are available at the following website:

https://www.globe.gov/web/s-cool/home/observation-and-reporting/globe-observer-tips-and-tricks

You can submit up to 10 observations per day. At the end of the semester, take a picture/screen capture of the total observations you made on your phone, and add it to the “Experimental section” of your semester project report. The number of total observations is available on the Clouds home page. To get to this number, you would need to open your app, then click on “Clouds.” The number of observations made will be listed inside the small white picture of a cloud at the top of this home page.

More information is available at these links:

https://observer.globe.gov/do-globe-observer/clouds/making-cloud-observations

https://observer.globe.gov/

https://www.globe.gov/documents/348614/24331082/GLOBE+Cloud+Chart

https://www.globe.gov/web/s-cool/home/family-cloud-resources/family-cloud-challenge

1