Compartment models to study human impact on climate change

Abstract

Climate change is subject to lively public discussions. Especially the question of whether climate change is manmade is a central point of contention. Since climatic processes are interleaved and complex, it is difficult to evaluate public, political or scientific statements. In this work, we look at mathematical models behind climate processes on a simplified level. We present a simple model of the Earth?s energy budged developed by high school students themselves during a project week. The model allows the students to compute the global Earth?s surface temperature and effects of varying solar activity and land surface changes. More precisely, the model describing the energy budget of the Earth forms a systems of partial differential equations and can be linked to compartment models. We show how this mathematically challenging question can be didactically reduced in such a way that students can be enabled to develop, solve and extend compartment models independently without having been taught the theoretical background. We implemented this course as an interactive online workshop and present our experiences with gifted student groups. We believe that our material presents an opportunity to demonstrate the power of mathematical modeling, to understand natural phenomena, and to critically reflect on discussions.

Keywords

• compartment models
• human impact
• climate change
• high school students
• project week