Measuring Precipitation

Impacts—Measuring Precipitation

Summary: Scientists collect a lot of weather-related data to so they can better understand weather patterns and changes in climate. In this topic guide, students measure and record precipitation near their school, and compare with online data through the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network (CoCoRaHS).

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Observed measurements help scientists understand patterns in precipitation and other weather characteristics.
  2. Students can collect and share meaningful weather observations.
  3. Precipitation rates are correlated with seasons and can be predicted.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Collect, record and report precipitation data
  2. Obtain, evaluate and communicate precipitation data taken from an online database

Activity Links and Resources:

  • CoCoRaHS lesson plans and activities for students in the classroom learning about the science of studying weather
    • Lesson 1—Equipment and Measurements
    • Lesson 2—Registration and Data Entry
    • Lesson 3—It’s Not Easy Being Green
    • Lesson 4—Practice Reading the Rain Gauge
    • Lesson 5—A History of the Sky: Observing Climate
  • View CoCoRaHS data reports to determine how precipitation varies by season for a particular area.
    • Have students create a histogram or line graph from data
    • Do precipitation data vary by season? How?
      The data collected through CoCoRaHS are used by scientists to better understand weather and climate.
  • Make your own rain gauge using a 2-liter bottle—Example

Assessment:

  • Lesson 4 includes a student worksheet
  • Students use real data to create and interpret a graph that shows precipitation levels during different seasons.
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The Ocean and our Weather

Science Concepts—The Ocean and our Weather

Summary: The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate. The ocean absorbs heat from solar radiation, and loses heat by evaporation. When water from the ocean enters the atmosphere as water vapor, it condenses and forms rain. In fact, most of the rain that falls on land originally evaporated from the tropical ocean. In this topic guide, students explore relationships between the ocean and weather on land though investigations of the water cycle.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Water moves through a cycle that includes the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere
  2. The ocean plays an important role in shaping climate and weather

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 5-ESS2-1. Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

Standards: Ocean Literacy Principle 3

  • The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Build a model to show how water moves through the Earth’s systems
  2. Describe how the ocean influences weather on land

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Lesson: The Water Cycle—In this lesson from NASA GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) students participate in a webquest to learn about the water cycle, and then build a model of the water cycle to observe how water moves through Earth’s four systems.
  • Images that describe the water cycle
    • Water Cycle Poster from NOAA Education Resource—Consider using to review parts of the water cycle with students, noting that much of the water that will end up as rain is evaporated from the ocean. The accompanying article points out that images can oversimplify understanding of complex factors involved in the water cycle.
    • Water Cycle Animation from NASA GPM—Visualize how water that evaporates into clouds from the ocean moves toward land and falls as precipitation.
  • Use the water cycle to connect the ocean and watershed. Review the Watershed Walk from OCEP Module One
  • Activity: The Incredible Journey through the Water Cycle—In this Project WET game adapted by the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, students learn about the physical processes of the water cycle by taking on the role of a drop of water moving through the system.

Assessment:

  • The NASA GPM webquest includes a Student Capture worksheet.
    How does water that evaporates from the ocean make its way to land?
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Climate vs Weather

Science Concepts—Climate vs Weather

Summary: Sometimes people who are trying to understand climate change have asked the question, “How could the planet be warming given that it is so cold outside today?” Weather and climate are not the same thing. Weather is what’s happening outside your window; atmospheric conditions that you can see, feel or measure. In contrast, climate is an area’s long-term weather patterns, and understanding climate requires looking at data taken over a longer period of time. In this topic guide, students analyze data to describe typical weather and climate patterns for different regions and seasons.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Climate is an area’s long term weather patterns; generally the record is at least 30 years.
  2. Temperature and other records can vary from year to year, place to place, and season to season.
  3. Climate records show patterns in this variability.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
  • 3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Describe the difference between weather and climate.
  2. Calculate average minimum and maximum temperatures in a climate record.
  3. Use online climate records to observe seasonal and regional climate differences.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Comparing Climate and Weather—This Power Point was created by educator LuAnn Dahlman from the NOAA Climate Program Office. It begins with a story of a personal observation and leads to interpretation of long term datasets.
    • Use the tables and graphs in slides #9-12 to guide students through identifying extreme annual events, determining temperature ranges over a climate record, and calculating average minimum and maximum temperatures.
    • The presentation ends with a Climate? or Weather? quiz.
    • Access NCDC DataTools to find out the minimum, maximum and average temperatures for other areas in the U.S. Compare the Minneapolis July 4th min/max temperature data to datasets from other regions. For a given area, compare July min/max data to data from other months of the year.
  • Activity: Oregon Climate Data—Explore climate data for various cities throughout Oregon to see how temperature and precipitation vary throughout the year and in different locations. Students will observe that coastal areas experience a smaller temperature range and greater precipitation than areas in Oregon that lie east of the Cascade Range.
    • Reading: Climate of Oregon—Background information from the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute that describes how the Pacfic Ocean and Cascade Range influence climate.
  • Reading: Weather and Climate—EPA Climate Change Indicators in the US. Explore the headings to see how long term temperature and precipitation data are used to indicate climate change.
  • Video: Weather vs. Climate—The second video of the CoCoRaHS Educational Series in collaboration with NOAA and NSF. Learn about the differences in this fun video.

Assessment:

  • Take the quiz at the end of the Comparing Climate and Weather Power Point
  • How do long term datasets help us better understand climate? How would Charlie’s understanding of climate been different if he had only collected temperature data in 1972? What if he only collected data in 1982?
  • How does the average climate in Minneapolis compare to another area in the U.S. in July?
  • How does distance from the ocean affect climate in various locations in Oregon? Why?
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Engineering Ideas

Planning—Engineering Ideas

Summary: Many people live in places that experience floods from rivers, and more people are likely to experience flooding as a consequence of rising sea level. In this topic guide, students brainstorm ways people living near the coast might respond to rising sea level. They are then challenged to design and build a model of a flood-resistant home for a flood-prone community.

Concepts to teach:

  • Crosscutting Concepts
    • Structure and Function, Cause and Effect
  • Disciplinary Core Ideas
    • ETS1.A – Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems
    • ESS3.B – Natural Hazards
  • Science Practices
    • Asking questions and defining problems, Developing and using models, Constructing explanations and designing solutions

Goals:

  1. People who live near the coast will have to adapt to impacts from rising sea level.
  2. Adaptation strategies might include relocating homes and communities
  3. Some communities can use engineering solutions to respond to sea level rise

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 3-5-ETS1-1. Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
  • 4-ESS3-2. Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Identify different ways coastal communities might react to sea level rise
  2. Design a model structure that could resist flooding
  3. Describe how particular features of a model address a problem

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Activity: Use ideas from the Beat the Flood design challenge to provide a scenario for students to create and build a structure that would withstand a flood.
    • Consider identifying a real coastal community or structure that is at risk for flooding from sea level rise and/or storm surges and using it as the backdrop for the challenge.
    • Decide with or for the students what a successful model design should be able to do and clearly share these design criteria with the students. You can use or make a stream table in which designs can be tested to see if they can remain stable and dry under controlled flood conditions.
    • Provide constraints to the the challenge in terms of materials available (paper, sticks, glue, tape, etc) and the time allowed to build the model. Optional: Assign costs to different materials.
    • Provide opportunities for iteration, improving designs, etc.
    • Collect data on the performance of student structures. Which designs best met the criteria? Identify designs that were most creative, used the least amount of material, were more attractive, etc.

Assessment:

  • Students present their designs and explanations to each other in a classroom “Model Home Expo”
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Shoreline Structure

Planning—Shoreline Structure

Summary: What different kinds of shorelines exist in Oregon? How do different types of shoreline react to flooding and sea level rise? In this topic guide, students learn about different kinds of natural and human-created shorelines, and map a coastal area to show where different types of shoreline are found. They also create a model that demonstrates how water interacts differently with “hard” and “soft” features.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Shoreline features vary in different places along coastlines
  2. “Soft” shorelines absorb wave energy and water, and “hard” shorelines reflect or redirect wave energy and water, often causing erosion nearby.
  3. Soft shorelines such as coastal wetlands can help protect communities from damaging sea level rise and storm surges.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 4-ESS2-1. Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Identify different types of shorelines on the Oregon coast
  2. Experiment with a model to show how different types of shoreline interact differently with waves.
  3. Understand that coastal wetlands can help control flooding and erosion.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Activity: Plan a visit to a coastal area that has a variety of shoreline features and provide students with a simple map of the shoreline. Ask the students to notes the types of shoreline they observe on the map and make a key to their notation so that others can understand their map.
    • Example: Hatfield Marine Science Center Nature Trail mapping worksheet—Walk the HMSC Estuary Nature Trail and draw on the map different symbols and colors to indicate shoreline features. Create a key to the symbols and colors.
    • Which types of shoreline will absorb water and wave energy? Which types will reflect water and waves? If possible, observe how waves come ashore in different areas. Is there evidence of erosion at the field site?
    • Using the map scale and a ruler, calculate the distance of the shoreline on the map (this is easier on a straight shoreline). Determine the proportion of shoreline that is “natural” vs. “human-made”, or “hard” vs. “soft”.
  • Activity: Experiment with a wave tank to see how different structures interact with waves.
    • Visit the wave tank in the HMSC Visitor Center
    • Create your own wave tank in a large pan or sink, and create model shorelines from sand, gravel, bricks, sponges, etc and generate a wave that travels toward the ‘shore’ and see what the water does
  • Review: How Do Trees Affect Erosion? topic guide from OCEP Module 2 which focuses on how vegetation helps stabilize shorelines.
  • Activity: Wetlands and their ecological services—in this Lesson 1.3 of the Bringing Wetlands to Market curriculum, students learn about the different types of wetlands and their ecological roles, and they identify one or more local wetlands.

Assessment:

  • Observe and map the hard and soft shoreline features of a coastal area
  • How does water interact with different shorelines in your model?
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King Tide Photos

Impacts—King Tide Photos

Summary: Climate induced sea level rise can lead to erosion and flooding events that threaten natural and human communities, establish new coastlines, and change ecosystems. Coastal citizens can help document sea level changes by participating in the Oregon King Tide Photo Project. At a few specific times of the year when the moon is closest to the Earth, Oregon experiences extremely high tides known as “King Tides”. Volunteers photograph coastal areas during these extreme high tides, and the images they capture help the public visualize and understand the impacts of sea level rise in the coming decades.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. King Tides are especially high tides that occur a few times a year
  2. King Tides show what everyday water levels could look like as sea level rises
  3. Citizens participating in King Tide Photo projects can help raise awareness of potential sea level rise impacts and help identify flood-prone locations

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 3-LS4-4.Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Use photos to describe the impacts of extreme high tides on a coastal area
  2. Identify potential solutions to a flooding problem caused during King Tide events
  3. Describe how observations of King Tides help people understand the impacts of climate change

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Background information about King Tides and Climate Change from EPA
  • Oregon King Tide Photo Project—Citizens photo-document the impacts of coastal flooding during extreme high tides.
    • Check the Flickr page to see if there is a photo for an area you can visit with your class. Take your photos of the location during your visit and compare them to the photos taken during a King Tide.
    • Plan a field trip to a coastal area during a King Tide event to take your own photos. Have students identifiable spot at the field site and take photos, recording location and time. If possible, try to visit the site more than once during your trip, during different phases of the tide. Be sure to stay safe; and do not allow students to get too close to the water. Ideally, take photos from a viewpoint safely above the shoreline.
  • Design a solution—Some areas are flooded during King Tides. Ask students to identify an example of a place where a King Tide causes a problem and design a solution to address the problem. For example, if a picnic table is covered with water during a King Tide, students may suggest that the park rangers could move the table to higher ground.

Assessment:

  • Share King Tide photographs online with the Oregon King Tide Photo Project
  • Have students compare and contrast photos they take on a field trip with those of the same area taken during a King Tide event. What accounts for differences in the water levels observed in the photos?
  • Discuss the implications of extreme high tides, especially during storms. How do images of King Tides help people understand more about sea level rise?
  • Students identify a place for which tidal flooding is a problem, and identify potential solutions to the problem.
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Melting Ice

Impacts—Melting Ice

Summary: One indicator of climate change is the increased melting of ice on sea and on land. Students view scientific data showing the extent of ice in the Arctic to see how the amounts have changed over time. They then conduct an experiment to find out how melting sea ice and melting land ice might have impacts on surrounding water levels.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Scientists measure sea ice mass and glacial ice mass to see patterns and changes over time
  2. Increasing rates of melting ice on land and sea are an indicator of global climate change
  3. Melting land-based ice contributes to sea level rise, while melting sea ice does not

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 5-PS1-2. Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Learn that ice formations on land will cause a rise in sea level when they melt, whereas ice formations on water will not cause a significant rise in sea level when they melt.
  2. Demonstrate that ice is less dense than water.
  3. Demonstrate that ice displaces water equal to the mass of the ice.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • EPA’s Sea Level: On the Rise, part 2—Students create a model representing sea ice and land ice and measure the effects on the water level when the ice melts. This activity can be performed by student groups.
    • Weigh the water and ice in each container prior to the experiment. At the end of the experiment, pour out the water and re-weigh the water. The weight should be the same due to conservation of mass.
  • How has Arctic sea extent changed over past decades? Graphic visualizations show changes in sea ice cover.

Assessment:

  • How has sea ice extent in the Arctic changed over time?
  • How will melting Arctic sea ice affect sea level?
  • How could melting glaciers and ice on Greenland and Antarctica affect sea level?

 

RETIRED LINK:

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Expand and Contract

Science Concepts—Expand and Contract

Summary: As the ocean’s temperature increases, its volume expands. In this activity, students heat and measure volume of air in a balloon to demonstrate the concept that heat causes most substances to expand and become less dense. Then they observe a demonstration that shows that liquid water (above 4 degrees C) also expands when heated.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. When most materials are heated (including water above 4 degrees C ) the volume increases due to a process called thermal expansion.
  2. Thermal expansion is the primary cause of climate induced sea level rise.
  3. A model can demonstrate a scientific concept.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 4-PS3-2.Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
  • 5-PS1-1. Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Understand that heat causes most substances to expand and become less dense
  2. Set up a simple data table to record results
  3. Observe that heated water has more volume than cooler water
  4. Explain how sea level rise results in part from thermal expansion

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Activity: Size-changing Science: How gases expand and contract from Science Buddies at Scientific American
    • Students measure the volume of air in a balloon before and after the air has been cooled or heated, and relate the results to the kinetic energy of molecules.
    • Check for potential misconceptions: Ask students to draw a picture of what is going on inside the balloon. That is, a closed balloon has the same number of molecules inside it although the temperature and volume of the balloon changes. Example
  • Demonstration: COSEE’s Thermal Expansion and Sea Level Rise – This experiment demonstrates the relationship between water volume and water temperature.
    • Set up this experiment as a demonstration to illustrate that water also expands when heated. Train a flex camera on the ruler and project the image on the screen for the entire class to follow and collect data.
  • Discuss with students what effect an increase in ocean temperature will have on its volume. If ocean volume increases, where will the ‘extra’ water go?

Assessment:

  • In the experiments, what happened to the balloon volume as the temperature changed?
  • Have students draw pictures of the balloons in the experiments to demonstrate their understanding of density and volume.
  • In the demonstration with liquid water, what happened to the water level when it was heated?
  • What happens to the volume of the Earth’s ocean when the temperature of the water increases? How does this affect sea level?
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Where the Land Meets the Sea

Science Concepts—Where the Land Meets the Sea

Summary: One consequence of climate change is sea level rise. In this topic guide, students learn how to read nautical charts that show where the sea meets the coast, the depth of coastal waters, and the coastal waterways that are used and mapped by people. They discover how charts are helpful tools for people who live and work at the coast, and think about how changes in sea level might affect the appearance of nautical charts in the future.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. A nautical chart is a special kind of map that shows what is in, on and around water.
  2. Nautical charts help mariners navigate safely.
  3. Over time, rising sea level will require that changes be made to coastal nautical charts.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 4-ESS2-2. Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Describe what a nautical chart is and what it is used for
  2. Read and identify simple features of a nautical chart
  3. Predict how an increase in sea level might change the appearance of a nautical chart

Activity Links and Resources:

  • Online Activity: Nautical Charts from NOAA Ocean Service Education
    • This multi-level interactive lesson can be explored together as a class, with breaks for students to find answers on their own.
    • Where are salt marshes located on the chart?
  • Obtain local nautical charts and practice identifying features, landmarks, water depth, marshes, etc.
  • Obtain local topographic maps to compare and contrast with the nautical charts.

Assessment:

  • Select and focus on a nautical chart and topographic map of a coastal area. Would a 12 inch increase in sea level change the appearance of these maps? Why or why not?
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Ocean Temperature

Science Concepts—Ocean Temperature

Summary: When displayed on a map, sea surface temperature (SST) measurements from the ocean help scientists see patterns in global sea surface temperature changes. Students watch and interpret an animation that shows temperatures varying according to season. Then they use a similar map to visualize temperature anomalies. Students practice reading and interpreting maps and charts to identify patterns, and they describe how patterns in data help scientists understand when new changes are occurring.

Concepts to teach:

Goals:

  1. Scientists have been measuring ocean sea surface temperature for many years.
  2. Sea surface temperature normally varies according to latitude and season.
  3. By examining long-term datasets, scientists can detect changes that differ from normal patterns.

Standards: NGSS Performance Expectations

  • 3-ESS2-2. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

  1. Identify factors that produce normal patterns of variability in ocean temperatures.
  2. Interpret a map that shows how sea surface temperatures vary over time.
  3. Obtain and evaluate information showing that ocean heat content is rising.

Activity Links and Resources:

  • NASA’s Global Temperature Anomalies visualization 1880-2018
  • What are today’s SST conditions? Check the earth.nullschool website for a visualization of global weather conditions forecast by supercomputers (updated every 3 hours)
  • EPA’s Ocean Heat Content—Ocean heat is an indicator for climate change. This page describes trends in the amount of heat stored in the world’s oceans between 1955 and 2015.

Assessment:

  • What do the colors in the “Anomalies” animation and the SST map indicate?
  • What are today’s SST conditions?
  • The EPA’s Ocean Heat Content graphic plots three different datasets on the graph. How does looking at results from more than one set of data help scientists understand patterns?

 

RETIRED LINK:

  • NOAA’s Global Science Investigator—Use false color images to examine patterns in sea surface temperatures. The Sea Surface Temperature animation can be used to determine normal seasonal variations 2000–2006, while the Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies animation shows temperatures that differ from normal patterns 1980–1999.
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