Global cooling

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/global-cooling

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the period of scientific conjecture?Primarily the 1970s
2. What is the core hypothesis?Imminent global cooling culminating in extensive glaciation
3. What was the global cooling idea in the 1970s?Scientists noticed some temperature records seemed to cool and wondered if Earth might get colder. They studied tiny particles called aerosols and Earth's changing orbit as possible reasons.
4. Why could aerosols cool the Earth?Aerosols are tiny particles that can scatter or absorb sunlight, so more of them could let less sun heat the planet.

Conjecture: A hypothesis or theory based on incomplete evidence, subject to revision with new data.
Glaciation: The process by which land is covered by glaciers or ice sheets, characteristic of ice ages.
Aerosols: Microscopic solid or liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere that can influence radiative balance and cloud formation.
Orbital Forcing: Climate variations driven by long-term, predictable changes in Earth's orbital parameters (eccentricity, obliquity, precession).