CO2 in the Ice Core Record
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Provided by: Earth: The Operators' Manual|Published on: April 27, 2021
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this video, geologist Richard Alley visits the National Ice Core Lab to explain how scientists use ancient ice cores to understand the history of climate on Earth.
- Students will learn how scientists use ice cores to determine how carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have changed over hundreds of thousands of years.
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences
Authors: Earth: The Operators' Manual
Region: Europe, Polar Regions
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Students will enjoy seeing the interior of the National Ice Core Lab.
Additional Prerequisites
- Ads may play before the video.
- The video explains that we "blew past 380" when referencing atmospheric carbon dioxide, this number has changed since the video was produced. For the most recent data, teachers can check the NOAA website.
- This segment is part of a series of videos hosted by geologist Richard Alley.
Differentiation
- Teachers could draw stratification on the board to explain ice cores and paleoclimate. Students could discuss how the ice strata contain air bubbles from thousands of years ago.
- After the video, teachers can go back to 2 minutes, 12 seconds, and ask students to think about the correlation between carbon dioxide levels and temperature. Students could discuss how the rapid rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is affecting Earth's climate.
- Other resources on this topic include this PBS video on how scientists analyze the gases in ice cores, and this video that features scientists taking ice core samples in Antarctica.
This resource includes a 3-minute video and supporting textual information describing how scientists get carbon dioxide and temperature data from Arctic and Antarctic ice cores, and what this has taught us about Earth's previous 400,000 years. At the time of the publication of this video, the CO2 levels were approaching 400 ppm, the levels have changed since the video's publication. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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