Climate change

Guided inquiry, Myth 3

Myth 3: “The science of climate change is not credible”.

Write down your testable hypothesis concerning Myth 3.

You are given an argument about Myth 3 and the question you have to answer using the following scientific sources.

Argument of Myth 3: The collecting data from the observatory stations about the amount of the CO₂ are not reliable, so climate change is not a real fact.

Question: Can we rely on collecting data from the observatory stations about the amount of the CO₂?

Watch the video Video: Building a robust temperature record. Then, read the following text carefully, study the map, and answer the question.

The global average monthly surface temperature (GMST), is reconstructed from a combination of data collected by 1. NASA GISTEMP, 2. CRUTEM (University of East England Climate Research Unit), 3. National Climate Data NOAA (NCDC). The data on which climate reconstruction is based, emerged from sources of observation from land, air, and sea.

Figure 1. The ways in which data is collected by the NOAA organisation.

According to the legend of the map, what are the data collection methods used by NOAA?What do you notice about the amount of data collection methods and their geographical location?NOAA maintains Baseline Observatories. How many such stations do you find on the map?What do you notice about the location of each observatory? Why do you think they were placed in these places?

Study the Webpage of NOAA and perform the task. What are the four NOAA observatories? Where are they located (longitude, latitude) and at what altitude? (Sources 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4)

Observatory

Longitude

Latitude

Altitude

What do you notice about their location?

At any time through these stations, we can receive information about the prevailing conditions. Here, you can see the latest recordings from Mauna Loa Station in Hawaii.

Figure 2. CO₂ measurements taken from 1975 to 2020 from the 4 main observation stations of NOAA.

Study the following graph and answer the question.

Please use this tool to assess the reliability of the sources used. Write a summary of your findings in the table.

Evidence / main conclusions / summary of the information relevant to the hypothesis

Type and source of evidence

Reliability rate

Comments

Video: Building a robust temperature record

Figure 1

NOAA website

Figure 2

Based on the given evidence, our conclusion(s) concerning the myth ”The science of climate change is not credible”, is (are):

According to the data you collected, where do you owe the error of this myth?