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** Online Research Experience ** // Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. // //** ~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi ** //

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= Completion of Research Experience =

Completion of Online Research Experience begins January 24th. Elluminate session for all on January 26 at 8:00 PM.

Be prepared to present your research proposals to your classmates (send Powerpoints to be posed on Elluminate or post your own if you are comfortable with posting).

We will also discuss competitions and other opportunities for research students.

Check out the finished video from the field trip to the FACE site:

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Week of January 3, 2011 We are now entering the final few weeks of the semester. Your final research proposal is due on exam day (Exams begin January 18). You should submit at least one draft of your proposal leaving at least a few days for me to give you feedback and then for you to respond to that feedback. We will meet this week to make sure everyone is on task. Meet in one-on-one sessions on Wednesday in the following order:

Wednesday at 7:00 Sudarshan Wednesday at 7:15 Isaac Wednesday at 7:30 Brendan Wednesday at 7:45 Allen Wednesday at 8:00 Gray Wednesday at 9:00 Marissa

Kayla - A-block on Thursday Andrew - Please confirm a time.

Here are the guides to your most recent assignments:

Week of 11/10 to 11/17
 * 1) ** Summarize your Leaf Litter data to date. Create a graph and post on your personal page. **
 * 2) ** Small group meetings: **
 * ** Hurricanes: **
 * ** IR/Building Materials: **
 * ** Tree Folk: **


 * Prepare for your small group meeting : **


 * ** Choose research question and 1 research paper to discuss **
 * and email in detail and 2 others that are relevant. **


 * ** Send all of this to me Friday at midnight. **


 * ** Be prepared to explain what the research question, **
 * methods and conclusions are in the main paper. **


 * ** •Be prepared to discuss the significance for your **
 * research topic of each of the papers **


 * 3. Full Literature Review is Due on 11/16 **

Week of 11/4 to 11/10 1) Continue Leaf Litter Collection - may need to count a bit more often in the coming days. 2) DUE ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 9 - Choose your research question and, in a posting on your Journal page, post the question and respond to the questions contained in this document  Remember that you next will need to complete a literature review on this topic by 11/16 START EARLY 3) Revisit Question #3 in Chapter 4. Many of you had problems with this question. Answers are in the Elluminate Powerpoint from 11/3. DUE on NOVEMBER 7 (Sunday) at Midnight for grading. 4) Read Chapter 5 pages 41-47 (stop when you get to "Convection").

LINK TO FACE SITE FIELD TRIP VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slUpBWLz90Q and video from high tower http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONPNvAWW8n4

Week of 10/27 to 11/3 Work with your group on research questions. Be prepared to discuss ideas for research questions in the next Elluminate session. FROM American Museum of Natural History Young Naturalist Award Website: []
 * What makes a good research question?**


 * 1. A good scientific question is one that can be answered through scientific research.** "Is Stone Creek polluted?" is a good question because you can predict an answer and then test your prediction by testing the creek's water to discover whether or not it's polluted. "Why is quicksand so dangerous?" is not a good question to investigate. Unless there is quicksand nearby (and let's hope there isn't!), there is no way to observe it. It would also be difficult to set up a procedure to gather data about the quicksand. "How do Hurricanes Affect Florida's Wildlife?" is an interesting question, but one that is very broad. Although you can predict an answer, you would not be able to gather enough data in the short amount of time you are likely to have for this project. You might be able to narrow that question down to one hurricane, one species of animal, in one location (near you) and then be able to gather enough data.


 * 2. A good scientific question builds on what you already know and on what you can find out.** You may already know a little about your topic. Doing background research will provide you with additional information. This information can be used to help craft a really good question. It can also help you plan how you will conduct your investigation. You may know, for example, that a local stream is being polluted. You may think that the pollution comes from by runoff of a nearby roadway. You then learn that a factory upstream is discharging water into the stream. This information may change your prediction and how you will investigate it.


 * 3. A good scientific question can be tested by experimenting, observing, measuring, or by obtaining data from running a scientific model.** Whether you collect data by recording data in the natural environment, conduct an experiment, or make and run a scientific model, you must be able to analyze the data you collect. Make sure you have the equipment you need and carefully record you data. If you chose to gather your data out in the natural environment make sure you have the ability to visit your site multiple times.


 * 4. A good scientific question, when answered, leads to other good questions.** If you chose a good question to investigate, other good questions will come up during your research. Discovering that a stream is polluted may lead to new questions, such as, "What is causing the pollution?," or "What can be done to bring back the health of the stream?" When you discuss your findings be sure to include the new questions and how you would follow up with them.


 * WEEKEND ON CAMPUS **
 * ADD YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS VOICETHREAD WITH IMAGES FROM THE FIELD TRIP TO DUKE FACE SITE **

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Week of 10/14 to 10/19 Read Chapter 4 and answer question #1 on 37-38. Please note that to answer this question you will need to use the online accessible model at [] Post answers on your “Notes and Research” page.
 * Due Tuesday, October 17 at midnight:**

– continue collecting leaf litter data and reporting count on wiki page at http://ncssmresearch.wikispaces.com/Leaf+Litter+Data
 * Monday and Thursday**

If you have a slide series or other materials to present please post them on your Journal pages on Wikispaces so that they are easy to access during the Elluminate session: IR Group: - Comparing green roofs and white roofs in terms of effectiveness at reducing IR output from the Earth - What models might be available to estimate the benefits of white roofs (hint: white and black daisies are not that different from white and black roofs, are they?) - How could you measure IR directly on buildings Forest Folk: - Prepare us for our visit to the FACE site. This can be a quiz, a contest, or presentation or combination of these. What do we need to know about the forest? the experiments the trees? What good questions should we ask the researchers? Hurricane Group: - What role dust dust from the Sahara play in hurricane development (Isaac) - What role does dust from land play in algae growth at sea and from there, in hurricance development? (Sudarshan)
 * Due for oral presentation in Elluminate Session on October 20th :**

Week of 10/7 to 10/13 **Birds, Slime Mold and Emergent Behavior**: //__** Assignments: **__// **Thursday October 7 from Noon until Friday October 8 at Noon** - Quiz on Chapter 3 open in Brain Honey Timed quiz (20 minutes) **Thursday October 7 and Monday October 11** - Leaf Litter Collection, Count and Entry in Table on NCSSMResearch.wikispaces.com **Tuesday, October 12 by Midnight:**- Get to know Daisy World Model at [] Make sure to check out the pull down menus in the upper left of the drawing box. - Check out what each of the icons on the left let you do with the model (the little rainbow pad and pencil icon, the stylized yellow flower icon etc.)- The pull down "Help" menu actually has a lot more than help in it. So check that out too.- The homework questions (linked at the last bullet below this one) ask you to change Scenarios using the "Scenarios" pull down menu- The model uses a "trick" to create the equivalent of death rate for both kinds of daisies - not really a death rate, but more like a restriction on population growth- Complete questions about Daisy World at []Post your answers on your personal Research and Notes page on the Wiki. Week of 9/29 to 10/6 __**Assigments for Online Research – Due October 4, 5 (due at midnight) and 6 (due during Elluminate Session)**__ **Monday, October 4** Read the remainder of Chapter 3. Answer the following questions on your wiki page in “Research and Notes” section. 1. Verify in your own words and, if you would like, with a diagram, that the budget equation for the layer model of the earth’s overall energy is equal to the sum of the budget equations for the ground and the atmosphere. Why is it important that this be true for our model calculations? (See explanation between pages 23 and 25). 2. What is the “skin temperature” of the Earth, and why is it significant to the development of the layer model? 3. Respond to question #1 on page 27 **Tuesday, October 5** Rewrite your description of the Green House Effect from the first assignment. You can do this by posting a separate new version of it or by editing the old version. Feel free to use equations and/or diagrams or metaphors or comparisons with other planets. However, be sure to use your own words. Keep it as short as possible. NOTE: this is very hard so leave some time to think about it and to rewrite it several times. ** Wednesday, October 6 ** Be ready, maybe even with a Powerpoint slide or two (email those to me and I can make them visible in Elluminate) to present what you have learned about your research topic in the past 2 weeks. You should have written a summary in your Journal by the Elluminate session so you might, instead, post whatever you want to present in your Journal and I can make that visible when you are called in during the Elluminate session. Below are the list of groups and along with a rough description of their research questions. It is fine if, as a group, or even individually, you find some question that interests you more than the one we discussed in the last Elluminate session and you decide to explore that question. Just be ready to present it to the class. Also – REMEMBER TO INSERT FULL CITATIONS OF YOUR SOURCES IN YOUR JOURNAL ENTRY. **Thursday October 7** – Quiz on Chapter 3 (and maybe some review of Chapter 2)._  Trees and Duke Sapflow Project Allen Brendan Helen Andrew Question: How might trees, or more likely forests, affect weather and in particular hurricanes? Another way to think about this might be: What links things that photosynthesize and respire to heat and water in the atmosphere. The reading from last week might help you a bit.  IR Analyses of Campus and Carbon Footprinting Marissa Kayla Gray Question: How would white roofs impact the Heat Island Effect in a place lit Puerto Rico.  Hurricanes and Climate Change Isaac Sudhashan Question: How do photosynthesizing things (about ½ of all photosynthesis takes place near the surface of the world’s oceans) affect hurricanes. Another way to think of this might be: How does the lack of photosynthesizing affect the development of hurricanes? -- Why do hurricanes seem to originate in the vicinity of the Sahara Desert?

Leaf Litter Collection Protocol and Information: Why do Leaves Really Fall Off Trees? Listen here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114288700 Let me know how you want to get the leaf litter collection baskets ASAP (see your email) Post information about the site you have selected - Protocol is in your email and posted on BrainHoney **Some Topics to Begin :**

I. Trees and Forests : Water and Carbon Cycling in an Ecosystem II. Urban Surfaces : Controlling Unnecessary Heat in the Atmosphere III. Observing Clouds: Role of a Feedback in Climate Change

 IV. Hurricanes: Correcting Models with targeted Observations in Climate Change Science

 Resources and background are detailed on BrainHoney. Enter your summary of 1 of these topics on your personal Journal Page.

** Week 3 - The Greenhouse Effect (continued...) **

VIDEO AND ASSIGNMENT DUE 9/7 at Midnight

=Human Produced Greenhouse Gas=

Some natural background concentration of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is necessary to maintain a planetary average temperature of about 15 degrees C, the temperature that most current ecosystems (including the human-containing ecosystem) are adapted to. Carbon dioxide production from natural process and adsorption by major sinks -- photosynthesis and ocean surface chemistry -- are unable to absorb the additional carbon dioxide that human industrial activity (burning of fossil fuels) is producing. There are other greenhouse gases some of which occur naturally like methane and ozone but which are also produce by industrial operations. However, carbon dioxide is the largest greenhouse gas reservoir and the gas most affected by human activity.



=Hurricane Structure=

One result of warmer sea surface temperatures is an increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones (generic term for hurricane). The mechanism is not completely understood but research in the area of sea-atmosphere interactions during hurricanes seems to indicate that, while increased hurricane intensity is a result of warmer sea surface temperatures, hurricanes ultimately have a cooling effect on ocean temperatures by causing warm surface waters to mix with cooler deeper ocean water.

= How Does Carbon Dioxide contribute to warmer surface temperatures? =

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=Pieter Tans=

Pieter Tans is senior scientist at the Earth System Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado. He has studied the global carbon cycle for several decades, starting with his Ph.D. dissertation research in the Netherlands, and has published close to 140 scientific papers on the subject. His group maintains the world's largest global monitoring network of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and provides reference gas mixtures to calibrate high accuracy greenhouse gas measurements worldwide. Dr. Tans serves on several advisory committees for research on the carbon cycle and climate, and is a member of the editorial board of Tellus. [|Read interview transcript]

= = =Kerry Emanuel= Kerry Emanuel is professor of atmospheric science in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research group is investigating possible links between global climate and tropical cyclone activity, focusing on the possible role of tropical cyclones in driving oceanic heat fluxes. [|Read full bio] // [|Read interview transcript]

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** Links to our Research Partners for this course **:
= = Here is a link to the **Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment FACE site** where we will be assisting Professor Ram Oren and his graduate students with their research on the effects of elevated carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on tree growth. http://face.env.duke.edu/main.cfm

Here is a link to the **NASA's S'COOL website** where you can sign up to be a Citizen Scientist once you have determined the exact longitude and latitude of the spot where you will make cloud observations. http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/Rover