Provided by: Earth: The Operators' Manual |Published on: April 27, 2021
Videos
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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.
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.
