EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Scientists study Earth’s climate and how it changes in a variety of different ways, using satellite, instrumental, historical, and environmental records. One challenge of using satellite and instrumental data is that their lifespans have been rather short when compared to Earth’s life.

Detailed explanation-2: -Freshwater runoff from glaciers also influences ocean ecosystems. Glaciers are important as an indicator of climate change because physical changes in glaciers-whether they are growing or shrinking, advancing or receding-provide visible evidence of changes in temperature and precipitation.

Detailed explanation-3: -Modern observations mostly come from weather stations, weather balloons, radars, ships and buoys, and satellites. A surprisingly large number of U.S. measurements are still made by volunteer weather watchers.

Detailed explanation-4: -Ice cores can tell scientists about temperature, precipitation, atmospheric composition, volcanic activity, and even wind patterns.