EDUCATION: GLOBAL METHANE INVENTORY

Lesson 2-2: Net Gain or Loss of Atmospheric Methane

Specifications

• Time: 1 to 2 Class Periods

Objectives

1. The student will use the source/sink data from activity 1 and additional source/sink data (provided) to calculate the net increase or decrease in total atmospheric methane in teragrams (net methane input) for each year from 1980 to 1998.
2. The student will graph the results, analyze the graph for trends over time, and compare these trends to the trend in methane concentrations from Chart 2 of Lesson 2-1, "Trends in Atmospheric Methane Concentrations", to determine why the rate of increase in atmospheric methane concentrations has slowed.

Primary NY State Science Content Standard

• Average temperatures on Earth are the result of the total amount of insolation absorbed by the Earth's surface and its atmosphere and the amount of long-wave energy radiated back into space.

Primary NY State Skill Standards

• The central purpose of scientific inquiry is to develop explanations of natural phenomena in a continuing creative process.
• Identifying patterns of change is necessary for making predictions about future behavior and condition.
• The knowledge and skills of mathematics, science and technology are used together to make informed decisions and solve problems, especially those relating to issues of science / technology / society decision making, design and inquiry into phenomena.

Prerequisite Knowledge

• Students should have completed Lesson 1-1, "The Role of the Atmosphere and Greenhouse Effect in Determining the Surface Temperature of the Earth", and Lesson 2-1, "Trends in Atmospheric Methane Concentrations".
• Students should be familiar with different forms of graphical representations.
• Students should be able to put data into graphical form.
• Students should also be able to obtain information from a graph and draw conclusions based on it.

Methane Home, Intro, Lessons, Projects
Previous Research, Reference, Feedback