Transcript

This presentation was developed with funding from the Center for Multi-Scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) and the National Center for

Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Copyright NESTA

Feeling the Heat

Feeling the heat

This presentation is full of data and images to get you thinking! Discuss as a class the patterns you see and the reasons for those patterns.

Looking for patterns

Take a look at graph representations of the Los Angeles heat wave data and the average temperature data. How have they changed throguh time?

Reasons for patterns

Check out how global climate has changed over time and compare that with the data from Los Angeles. Take a look at how Los Angeles has grown through time and how that has impacted the heat island effect.

This graph shows the number of heat waves in Los Angeles, CA over the past century. Do you see a pattern? How have heat waves changed through time?

(Graph from Tamrazian et al., 2008)

Looking for patterns

This graph shows the duration of heat waves in Los Angeles, CA (measured in days.) Has there been a change through time?

(Graph from Tamrazian et al., 2008)

Looking for patterns

Looking for patterns

How has the temperature in Los Angeles changed over time? This graph shows the average temperature for each year. See a pattern?

Warmer city temperatures are partially due to global warming. This graph shows how Earth’s average temperature has changed.

Reasons for patterns

Reasons for patterns

Notice above how the highest temperatures are found in the most dense part of a city?

The 3 following slides show how LA has changed over time. How do you think the heat island effect has changed over time? What was the heat island effect like in 1877, 1909, and 2002?

Los Angeles, CA in 1877. East LA is on the left and West LA is on the right. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Reasons for patterns

Los Angeles, CA in 1909. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Reasons for patterns

Los Angeles, CA in 2002. This 3-D perspective view was generated using topographic data and an enhanced color Landsat 5 satellite image mosaic. Topography is exaggerated one and one-half times. (Courtesy of NASA/JPL)

Reasons for patterns

Population Change in Los Angeles, CA

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

3500000

4000000

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

Year

Nu

mb

er

of

Peo

ple

Reasons for patterns

Population change in Los Angles since 1890. (Data from US Census Bureau)


Recommended