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Black Carbon
http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/blackcarbon/

Katie Snider, David Ladd, Rob Reese, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA)

This video describes what black carbon is, where is comes from, and how it contributes to sea ice melt and global warming.

Video length is 2:38 min.

Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»


Notes From Our Reviewers The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials
Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy | Technical Details

Teaching Tips

About the Content

  • Black carbon is soot.
  • Black carbon on the surface of sea ice contributes to the acceleration of sea ice melting by absorbing, rather than reflecting, sunlight.
  • Because black carbon is a particle, rather than a gas, it has a relatively short lifespan in the atmosphere; thus, reducing the amount of black carbon that people produce can have immediate impacts.
  • Comments from expert scientist: This material uses simple language to clearly describe the role black carbon plays in the earth radiation budget. To date, black carbon is recognized having strong contribution to current global warming, only next to the green house gas, carbon dioxide.

About the Pedagogy

  • This video presents information well and includes animations to help students understand concepts.

Technical Details/Ease of Use

  • The video plays easily from the website, and it can also be downloaded and saved.
  • A transcript is provided.

Related URLs These related sites were noted by our reviewers but have not been reviewed by CLEAN

https://serc.carleton.edu/files/NAGTWorkshops/energy/activities/black_carbon.pdf
Entered the Collection: July 2014 Last Reviewed: July 2014

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