--- title: "Quick check: causes, evidence and responses" subtitle: "Year 10 Earth and space · Earth's energy balance · Lesson 7" --- # Quick check: causes, evidence and responses **Name:** {{field-24}} **Date:** {{field-15}} **Class:** {{field-15}} > **Key question:** The Sun hasn't changed, but Earth is warming. What has? :::teacher-note **In one sentence:** A self-test on human causes of the energy imbalance, indicators of warming, and mitigation and adaptation (AC9S10U04, nodes 4 to 6, taught in class; nodes 4 and 5 hinges). **Students should be able to say:** I can link human activities to the energy imbalance. I can name indicators of climate change and explain one. I can tell mitigation from adaptation. **Width:** the unmarked parts are the floor every student does (Engage, Explore, Explain, Evaluate). Typical and Wider sections add contexts, not difficulty. Students work in the online tutorial alongside this sheet. ::: ## Human activity and imbalance :::keep-together ### Adds or not? **Does it add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?** Groups: Adds greenhouse gases, Does not add them - Burning coal for electricity: {{field-15}} - Clearing forests: {{field-15}} - Cattle and rice paddies (methane): {{field-15}} - Planting forests: {{field-15}} - Wind turbines making electricity: {{field-15}} ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Burning coal for electricity → Adds greenhouse gases; Clearing forests → Adds greenhouse gases; Cattle and rice paddies (methane) → Adds greenhouse gases; Planting forests → Does not add them; Wind turbines making electricity → Does not add them ::: :::keep-together ### The imbalance **How do more greenhouse gases create an energy imbalance?** ☐ They cool the surface ☐ They trap more outgoing radiation, so Earth absorbs more energy than it sends to space ☐ They block sunlight from reaching Earth ☐ They make the Sun brighter ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** They trap more outgoing radiation, so Earth absorbs more energy than it sends to space Incoming energy stays about the same, but less escapes. With energy in greater than out, Earth warms until it balances again. ::: ## Indicators :::keep-together ### Indicator or not? **Is it an indicator of climate change?** Groups: Indicator, Not an indicator - Rising global average air temperature: {{field-15}} - Rising sea level: {{field-15}} - Shrinking Arctic sea ice: {{field-15}} - Warming oceans: {{field-15}} - A single cold day in winter: {{field-15}} ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Rising global average air temperature → Indicator; Rising sea level → Indicator; Shrinking Arctic sea ice → Indicator; Warming oceans → Indicator; A single cold day in winter → Not an indicator ::: :::keep-together ### Sea level **How does the energy imbalance cause sea levels to rise?** ☐ More rain falls into the oceans ☐ The sea floor is sinking ☐ Floating sea ice melts ☐ Warmer water expands, and melting land ice adds water ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Warmer water expands, and melting land ice adds water Extra energy warms the oceans and melts glaciers and ice sheets on land, both raising the sea. ::: :::keep-together ### Reading a graph **A graph shows global average temperature rising over 100 years, with ups and downs. What does it show?** ☐ That every year is warmer than the last ☐ That temperature does not change ☐ A long-term warming trend, with natural year-to-year variation ☐ That one cold year disproves warming ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** A long-term warming trend, with natural year-to-year variation The trend is the key. Yearly ups and downs are normal weather and climate variability on top of it. ::: :::keep-together ### Melting ice **Why does shrinking Arctic sea ice make the Arctic warm faster than elsewhere?** ☐ Less ice means more greenhouse gases ☐ Dark open ocean absorbs sunlight that the white ice used to reflect, so more energy goes in ☐ Ice blocks the Sun's rays from entering the atmosphere ☐ Melting ice gives out heat ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Dark open ocean absorbs sunlight that the white ice used to reflect, so more energy goes in Less ice lowers the albedo, so more sunlight is absorbed, which melts more ice. This is why the Arctic is warming faster than the global average. ::: ## Responses :::keep-together ### Mitigation or adaptation? **Is it mitigation or adaptation?** Groups: Mitigation, Adaptation - Replacing coal power with solar and wind: {{field-15}} - Planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide: {{field-15}} - Building sea walls: {{field-15}} - Growing drought-resistant crops: {{field-15}} - Heatwave warning systems: {{field-15}} ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Replacing coal power with solar and wind → Mitigation; Planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide → Mitigation; Building sea walls → Adaptation; Growing drought-resistant crops → Adaptation; Heatwave warning systems → Adaptation ::: :::keep-together ### In terms of the model **How does mitigation address the energy imbalance?** ☐ It reduces greenhouse gas emissions, so less outgoing radiation is trapped ☐ It protects coasts and crops from the effects ☐ It cools the oceans straight away ☐ It removes all the heat already in the oceans ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** It reduces greenhouse gas emissions, so less outgoing radiation is trapped Cutting emissions (or removing carbon dioxide) reduces the extra trapping, so energy in and out come closer to balance. ::: :::keep-together ### Why adapt as well? **Why is adaptation needed even if emissions fall?** ☐ Adaptation replaces mitigation ☐ Climate change is not real ☐ Emissions cannot be reduced ☐ Warming and its effects already under way continue for some time, so people need to cope with them ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Warming and its effects already under way continue for some time, so people need to cope with them Greenhouse gases already in the air, and heat already in the oceans, keep warming and sea level rising for decades. ::: ## Exit ticket :::keep-together **Give one mitigation and one adaptation, and say how they differ.** {{lines-3}} ::: :::teacher-note **Answer:** Mitigation reduces the cause (e.g. renewable energy). Adaptation limits the harm (e.g. sea walls). :::