Overview
Earth's climate is changing over a vast range of time scales in response to varied and coupled processes acting in the atmosphere, oceans and deep mantle. In this module you bild on what you learned about recent climate change in the last module to explore: 1) how the dynamics of the ocean and cryosphere contribute to the remarkable climate variability observed over the last 10,000 years; and 2) How this backdrop has led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of wildfires in BC. In addition to reading and mind-mapping specific concepts in papers, you look at various time series data with the aim of investigating how "shifts" and "changes" are identified. Following a few weeks of mostly learning to write and to ask a question that is actually the one you want to ask, beginning with this module we will start to look closely at data sets.
Building on last week, you will do some plotting bearing in mind the mantra: PLOT, OBSERVE, LEARN, ASK, ANALYZE, RE-PLOT
Reading:
Oceanographic processes that modulate controls over Northern Hemisphere climate change over hundreds of years
How does it work and what is the evidence:
What is the expession of these effects in BC Wildfire behavior:
Parisien (2023)
Some global observations infered from ice cores: Over millennial time scales
Landscape disturbance history: 2021 Sparks Lake Fire (86,827 hectares) near Kamloops, BC
