This unit introduces you to the fundamental features underlying the planetary climate system, including the \u201cgreenhouse effect\u201d and the factors that affect the balance of solar radiation that the planet absorbs and emits. You will study factors that affect natural climate variability, including feedback loops, thresholds, tipping points, and non-linear relationships. You will investigate the role of climate in major events in Earth\u2019s past. You will review how human activities have caused an imbalance in \u201cradiative forcing\u201d resulting in warming as first theorized almost 200 years ago. Finally, you will review the increasingly strong evidence documenting how human activities are transforming our climate as described in Assessment Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).<\/p>\n
You will be expected to post in the discussion forum for this unit, and engage in your team\u2019s first practical application.<\/p>\n
The readings this week focus on the foundation of climate change science, Earth\u2019s climate of the past (paleoclimate), and the influence of human activity on climate. Together with the material from Unit 1 this will provide the basis for your reflection and your systems diagram: as you read and listen, focus on relationships between component parts of the system, and terms and concepts that are intriguing and\/or new-to-you.<\/p>\n
Week 3 Activity 1<\/strong> – Attend the live session<\/strong> or watch the recording<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Week 3 Activity 2 – Complete the weekly readings listed on Moodle<\/a> <\/b>where you will find guidance on what to focus on in the readings, including a short recording from the instructors<\/p>\n Week 3 Activity 3 – Start Individual Practical Application #1<\/a> by building a Climate Glossary on Moodle<\/a>:<\/b> This activity allows us to collaboratively compile a glossary of climate science terms. You may choose to define one or more terms, to gain familiarity with them. Focus on words that you learned (or learned something new about) from the readings.<\/p>\n Week 3 Activity 4 <\/b>– Submit Critical Reflection #2<\/a>: <\/b>Guiding questions are on Moodle. Post your reflection, along with comments on at least other student\u2019s reflection, by the end of the week.<\/p>\n For more information on the practice of Participation and Contribution in the MACAL program, see Assignment 1 and Contribution Assessment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Week 3 Overview This unit introduces you to the fundamental features underlying the planetary climate system, including the \u201cgreenhouse effect\u201d and the factors that affect the balance of solar radiation that the planet absorbs and emits. You will study factors that affect natural climate variability, including feedback loops, thresholds, tipping points, and non-linear relationships. You… Read More »Unit 2: Earth and Climate Systems<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"parent":3649,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3654","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3654"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5935,"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3654\/revisions\/5935"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.royalroads.ca\/cals500\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}