Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008

Hey guys! Thanks for the questions and comments yesterday! Remember you can also post on your own any day, in addition to the class posting. There were a lot of good answers to the question, which dealt with why, if our planet is warming up, is there still such cold weather in some places? A lot of you were on the right track -basically, there are SO MANY things that interact to produce weather. As ice metls, it cools air currents (for a while)....and as things get warmer, more water evaporates, making more clouds, cooling things down, etc. There are a LOT of things that come together to cause "weather"!

Jessi (1st Period) - yes, there is some new technology to reduce pollution, such as coal burning power plants that 'sequester' or save the carbon dioxide and bury it deep underground. But we all need to encourage politicians to take this a LOT more seriously, and stop waiting! And EVERYONE needs to do their part!

Colin (2nd Period) - today I was in two different types of forests. First was a 'young' forest, on land that used to be cattle pasture. It's only about 50 years old. Some tall trees, but pretty skinny and a LOT of low, shrubby plants. Then we went to a mature forest, which was about 120 years old - HUGE trees, not a lot of low-growing plants and shrubs.

Dustin (8th Period) - remember penguins are only at the South Pole, not the North Pole! If the glaciers on Antarticia melt, we will have a WHOLE lot more to worry about than penguins, as it would raise sea level about 6-10 meters! Which means that even College Station would be under water!

Natalie - actually I am living RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the forests we are studying! It's really cool!

One big correction on something that several classes remarked on: even though it's winter time, right now, Earth is actually CLOSER to the sun than it is in summer. But the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, so the sun's rays hit at an angle, giving us less heat. In the summer time Earth is actually farther from the sun, but the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, so the sun's rays hit directly, not at an angle, making it hotter - at least in the Northern Hemisphere!.

**And if you go to the blog and make an individual post, don't worry if it doesn't show up here. The post gets sent to me via email, but for some reason they are not always showing up on the blog page - but don't worry, I am getting them and thank you so much! While I am have a great time and learnng A LOT, I do miss everyone there at CG and hearing from you is great!

Here's the question for Tuesday: Look at the picture below. It shows how we were marking trees yesterday. We have to identify them and record their diameter. The metal tag has a number on it so the scientists here can track the trees growth over the years. And no, the nail doesn't damage the tree at all. But here's the question: As you can see, the nail is only driven into the tree a tiny bit. And there is a very good reason for this. So what is it?


Today we are hiking into an area of 'mature forest' where we will start tagging and identifying as many of the trees as we can. Rain is forecast, so it looks like we may get wet - but science goes on, rain or shine! Tomorrow - some pictures of me hard at work!