Earth’s Climate SystemÂ
Comprehending how Earth’s climate system operates requires documenting the onset, interconnectivity, and resilience of potentially vulnerable components of the system, including global ocean circulation, sea ice and large Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, and patterns of precipitation and aridity.
The resources in this section will guide students to explore many aspects of Earth’s climate systems, by analyzing layers of sediments in drill cores. Students can learn about slow cyclical changes, such as glaciation and deglaciation stages, as well as dramatic events like the k/T impact. These classroom investigations are supplemented by children’s books that illustrate the ways that climate phenomena can be observed in ocean floor sediments.
Key Words: plate tectonics, plate boundaries, density, earthquakes, tsunamis, topography, seafloor spreading, oceanic crust, ocean currents, ocean sediments, feedback mechanisms.
Resources by format: