How to use this assembly The Pod assemblies

How to use this assembly • The Pod assemblies have been designed in Power. Point so you can edit them for your own purposes. For example, removing any slides that aren’t relevant to your students and adding in information that is • There are notes at the bottom of the assembly for teachers to read – click the View tab and ‘Normal’ if you can’t see these.

Understanding weather and climate A Met Office production brought to you by the Pod

Weather is how the atmosphere is behaving on a day-to-day basis, including temperature, rain and wind. These can change hour by hour, day by day. © Crown copyright Met Office 2011

Climate looks at the weather over a long period of time; typically 30 years, but sometimes over hundreds of thousands of years. Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. © Crown copyright Met Office 2011

Climate zones © Crown copyright Met Office 2011

The Greenhouse Effect 4. 1. 5. 3. 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere It warms the Earth Infrared radiation (IR) is given off by the Earth Most IR escapes to outer space and cools the Earth… . . . but some IR is trapped by gases in the air, thus reducing the cooling effect © Crown copyright Met Office 2011

How do we know our climate is changing? 2000 s warmest decade Met Office - CRU © Crown copyright Met Office 2011

What causes climate change? Solar radiation changes Volcanic eruptions Greenhouse gases, aerosols Natural fluctuations in the circulation of our atmosphere and oceans, such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation + © Crown copyright Met Office 2011

Future climate change 2011 -2030 2046 -2065 2080 -2099 Low emissions scenario Medium emissions scenario High emissions scenario © IPCC 2007 These maps show the world could warm by the early, mid and late 21 st century for 3 emissions scenarios. © Crown copyright Met Office 2011