Visualizing Earth’s Radiative Balance: A Classroom “Jigsaw” Exploration of Poleward Heat Transport

1. Visualizing Earth’s Radiative Balance:A Classroom “Jigsaw” Exploration of Poleward Heat Transport E. Christa Farmer Hofstra University Geology Department 8 June 2011

2. The Problem: • During my first couple of years of teaching, I had trouble getting students to understand poleward heat transport • Textbooks only tend to have diagrams like this: Fig. 1.4 Ocean Circulation, The Open University/Pergamon

3. Inspiration: • At a 2005 NSF-sponsored workshop organized by Heather Macdonald, I learned about this: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 53, n. 1, January, 2005, p. 65-74

4. Sawyer et al.’s “jigsaw” process: • Divide students into 4 groups (or multiples of 4 for larger classes) • Give each group a “data map”: • Seismology • Volcanology • Geography • Geochronology • Students answer questions about classifying tectonic plate boundaries, and reformulate their data onto different map • Reorganize groups so that there is one student from each data group in each “plate group” • Have students teach each other about their data • Have students consolidate their classifications into one system involving all data • Compare classification systems: usually the “accepted” system will develop

5. Image created by Dale Sawyer, Rice University (http://terra.rice.edu/plateboundary/)

6. One of the “data maps”: Image created by Dale Sawyer, Rice University (http://terra.rice.edu/plateboundary/)

7. MY idea: • Design a similar “jigsaw” exercise to help students visualize poleward heat transport • Utilize Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data and mapping capabilities provided by LDEO/IRI dataserver at http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu • Publish an article about the exercise?? (Hasn’t happened yet!)

8. The Maps: • Incoming Solar (Shortwave) Radiation • Absorbed Solar (Shortwave) Radiation • Outgoing Terrestrial (Longwave) Radiation

12. Let’s try it! (…an abbreviated version) • Look at the absorbed shortwave radiation data along 70°W longitude (this goes through where I am on Long Island) • Using the color scale to identify the data values at each point, write down the values of the data at the following latitudes: 80°N, 60°N, 40°N, 20°N, 0°N (equator)

13. 70°N Write down values for 80°N, 60°N, 40°N, 20°N, 0°N (equator)

14. Part 2: • Look at the outgoing longwave radiation data along 70°W longitude • Using the color scale, write down the values of the data at the following latitudes: 80°N, 60°N, 40°N, 20°N, 0°N (equator) • Then, we will map the data!

15. 70°N Write down values for 80°N, 60°N, 40°N, 20°N, 0°N (equator)

16. Fill in the data

18. Notes: • You must set up the exercise by making sure students first understand lat/lon, W/m2, how data come from satellites, and how to plot data • Creating multiple graphs for different longitudes will emphasize the globality of the patterns • Graphing can be done on chalkboard in small groups • Analogies using bank accounts seem most accessible • I don’t have any quantitative assessment of the effectiveness, but anecdotally it seems to help!

19. Thanks! • For the full set of maps and student instructions and instructor notes, please see: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/hurricanes/activities/28219.html • Email me (GEOECF@Hofstra.edu) if you have any questions that I can’t answer now!