Unit name | Ice and Ocean in the Global Carbon Cycle |
---|---|
Unit code | GEOG30014 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Anesio |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
Available to year-three Geography and year- four Geography with Study Aboard/Continental Europe students only. |
School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
Faculty | Faculty of Science |
The unit aims to give students a full understanding of the major biogeochemical and microbiological processes that prevail in ice sheets and oceans, with an emphasis on wider global impacts and the links between ice to the surface of oceans and from the surface to the bottom of the oceans. The initial part of the course will cover elements of microbiology and how knowledge of microbial diversity can be useful to the understanding of biogeochemical processes. In particular, it considers the relatively recent idea that ice sheets and the cryosphere more generally can be considered as a “biome”. Thereafter, the unit includes topics such as the impact of future climate change on ice sheet delivery of nutrients to the oceans, alongside implications of climate warming for ice-sheet ecosystems and ocean biogeochemical cycles. The Ocean component will include description of the solubility pump and biological pump, global estimates, controlling factors and ocean basin differences (e.g. comparing North Atlantic, Southern Ocean and subtropical gyres), ocean carbonate system, role for ecosystem functioning and services, climate impact (loss, adaptation), marine sediments in global carbon cycle, recent past and future ocean carbon cycle and the ocean oxygen cycle.
On completion of this Unit students should be able to:
The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:
Lectures & practical sessions
Take-home exam at the end of the teaching block (75%) [ILOs 1 and 3-5]
Project Report (25%) (circa. 3000 words or 3 sides of A4, 11-point Arial, single-spaced, 2cm margins) [ILOs 1-5]
Essential:
Gaidos, E. et al. (2009), An oligarchic microbial assemblage in the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic subglacial lake, ISME J, 3: 486-497.
Wadham, J. L., M. Tranter, M. Skidmore, A. J. Hodson, J. Priscu, W. B. Lyons, M. Sharp, P. Wynn, and M. Jackson (2010), Biogeochemical weathering under ice: Size matters, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 24(3), GB3025.
Wadham, J. L., M. Tranter, S. Tulaczyk, and M. Sharp (2008), Subglacial methanogenesis: A potential climatic amplifier?, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 22(2), GB2021.
Further Reading:
Further Reading:
Siegert, M. J., M. Tranter, J. C. Ellis-Evans, J. C. Priscu, and W. B. Lyons (2003), The hydrochemistry of Lake Vostok and the potential for life in Antarctic subglacial lakes, Hydrol Process, 17(4), 795-814.