Our atmosphere and climate 2020 is an environmental report produced by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ. The report uses extensive long-term datasets to demonstrate some of the observed physical changes and broadscale effects in New Zealand that have been caused by climate change1. Stats NZ makes these datasets available to the public. This activity uses Google Data2 Studio to enable students to visualise and filter datasets of interest.
There are 27 datasets to choose from:
- 15 datasets pertaining to weather3 including temperature4, rainfall, drought, growing days, frosts, winds and fire risks. The datasets provide 30+ years of weather data for 30 locations across New Zealand.
- 11 datasets pertaining to greenhouse gas5 concentration emissions. The datasets cover emissions from 1990–2016. The initial dataset covers broad categories – energy, industry, agriculture, land use and waste. Subsequent datasets become narrower and more refined.
- 1 dataset pertaining to atmospheric ozone6.
Update
Please note: the Data Studio pages contain extensive information – there may be short delays while navigating through the pages and datasets.
Access the New Zealand climate data analysis Google Data Studio pages here.
Curriculum applications
The purpose of the activity is to introduce students to the datasets using an inquiry-based approach. This has applications across multiple curriculum areas. For example:
- agricultural and horticultural sciences
- Earth systems and the carbon7 cycle
- human impacts on ecosystems8
- statistical investigations using the statistical enquiry cycle
- investigating impacts on health, wellbeing and/or the economy.
Videos
The following videos introduce the New Zealand climate9 data analysis datasets and explain how to filter, visualise and explore data.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- discuss components of selected Data Studio pages
- discuss and interpret data presented in selected pages
- discuss why the information is important
- ask questions about data of interest
- consider how the data can be used to inform people about changes in New Zealand’s climate and the effects we are beginning to see
- consider how the data can be used to inform people about New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Download the Word file for additional teaching support and student worksheet (see link below).
Related content
Insight into how the data used in this activity was collected and how the scientists involved ensured the datasets are accurate and robust is presented in the following videos:
- Journey of the greenhouse gas data
- How do we know the data is robust?
- How do we know the interpretation of the data is accurate?
- OAC 2020: an independent scientific report
The article Our atmosphere and climate – introduction has links to resources that inform students (and the general public) about the state of New Zealand’s climate.
Climate change resources – planning pathways provides pedagogical advice and links to the New Zealand Curriculum. It includes an interactive planner that groups Hub resources into key science and teaching concepts.
The climate change topic curates all Hub resources. Use the filters at the top of the page to find specific resources.
Related activities
These activities also support students to create and interpret visual representations using climate change data.
Useful links
NIWA provides datasets for Our atmosphere and climate 2020. This report provides information about the data sources and methodologies used to generate the datasets.
Stats NZ provides information about atmosphere and climate indicators.
Acknowledgement
The public datasets used in this resource are courtesy of the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ and have been compiled using Google Data Studio by educator Jason Morgan.
Our atmosphere and climate 2020
The Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ produce New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting Series. Our atmosphere and climate 2020 focuses on climate change, with an overview of what is happening to our climate and how this affects many of the things we care about.
- climate change: The large-scale, long-term increase in the Earth’s average temperatures, with associated changes in weather patterns. There is significant scientific evidence that warming is due to increased quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, with most of the rise due to human activity.
- data: The unprocessed information we analyse to gain knowledge.
- weather: Daily or short-term conditions like temperature, cloud cover, precipitation and wind affecting a certain area.
- temperature: A measure of the degree of hotness or coldness of an object or substance. Temperature is measured with a thermometer calibrated in one or more temperature scales. Kelvin scale temperature is a measure of the average energy of the molecules of a body.
- greenhouse gases: A natural or manmade gas that traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere and contributes to the greenhouse effect. The main greenhouse gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone and industrial gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These gases in the Earth's atmosphere trap warmth from the Sun and make life possible. An overabundance of greenhouse gases leads to a rise in global temperatures – known as the greenhouse effect.
- ozone: Ozone is made up of three atoms of oxygen (O3). It is a highly reactive pale blue gas with a noticeable odour. Ozone forms a thin layer in the stratosphere. This layer protects life on Earth from ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet radiation is a known cause of skin cancer.
- carbon: A non-metal element (C). It is a key component of living things.
- ecosystem: An interacting system including the biological, physical, and chemical relationships between a community of organisms and the environment they live in.
- climate: The weather conditions of an area averaged over a series of years, usually 30 or more.
