INVESTIGATION 3

How Has Temperature Varied Regionally Since the Industrial Revolution?

In the previous investigations you have examined how Earth’s climate has fluctuated over geologic history. In the next three explorations, you will be looking at how temperature has fluctuated spatially over Earth’s various geographic regions. The temperature data is derived from NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Sciences (GISS), which is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center.

This institute focuses on a broad study of changes to our environment, addressing both natural and man-made changes that occur on various time periods from one-time climate events such as volcanic explosions, to seasonal and annual effects such as El Niño. Program areas include climate forcings, model development, Earth observations, radiation, atmospheric chemistry, climate impacts, paleoclimate, planetary atmospheres, and other earth science-related disciplines.