Reading a climate graph
1 min 36 s. The words are spoken and shown in the picture; the player can also show them as subtitles.
For the Earth and Space Sciences Regents. Topic: Climate change evidence and forecasting, with the past questions on it.
What Dr. Mars says (the words of the video)
How do you read a climate graph?
This graph shows carbon dioxide in the air.
Measured on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, since nineteen fifty-eight.
Time runs from left to right.
Dr. Mars climbs the line, forward in time.
The small zigzag repeats every year.
In the Northern Hemisphere, growing plants take in carbon dioxide each summer.
The rise underneath is the long-term trend.
Follow the blue line: the climb gets steeper.
Total change: last value minus first value.
About four hundred twenty minus three hundred fifteen equals about one hundred five parts per million.
Carbon dioxide traps heat near Earth's surface.
So this rise can warm Earth's climate.
Check yourself! How much did carbon dioxide rise, nineteen fifty-eight to twenty twenty-three? One, two, or three?
Think about the first and last values.
Answer: three! Four hundred twenty minus three hundred fifteen is about one hundred five parts per million.
Dr. Mars climbed the line from the first value to the last.
Dr. Mars. Free practice for the New York Earth and Space Sciences Regents.