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Unit name |
Environmental Change 3: Warm Climates |
Unit code |
GEOG35240 |
Credit points |
20 |
Level of study |
H/6
|
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
Unit director |
Professor. Rachel Flecker |
Open unit status |
Not open |
Pre-requisites |
All units in Single Honours Geography Year 2A and B
|
Co-requisites |
Other units defined on the A and B syllabus
|
School/department |
School of Geographical Sciences |
Faculty |
Faculty of Science |
Description including Unit Aims
1.Element 1 : Warm climates of the past (Dr Rachel Flecker. This element of the course will ask students to consider why investigating past climate is important. It will also provide an introduction to how climate proxies are used to reconstruct past climate. The course ends by considering the evidence for warm climates in the past and questions how well we can model them.
2.Element 2: Future Climatic Change (Prof. Paul Valdes)This element focuses on future climate change. The lectures discuss the science behind concerns about future climate change and the impacts on all aspects of society. It includes a consideration of how climate has changed, the potential causes, and the likely consequences of further changes.
Aims:
- To develop student understanding of the climate system through a study of past climate change;
- To allow students to make critical assessment of predictions of future environmental change;
Intended Learning Outcomes
On completion of this Unit students should be able to:
- devise and run experiments using a simple climate model, manipulate analyse and interpret its output;
- quantify some of the uncertainties associated with common proxies of past climate;
- give a reasoned account of the causes and uncertainties in future climate change predictions;
- describe the key components of the global Earth System and their interactions.
Teaching Information
Lectures
Computer Practicals
Extensive use of Blackboard’s discussion facility for coursework support
Assessment Information
- 2-hour written exam (60%) – links to learning outcomes 3 and 4
- Written report (3 sides A4) summarising student and published analysis of climate proxy (d18O) data (20%) – links to learning outcome 2
- 2000 word report assessing the results of a climate model simulation (20%) – links to learning outcome 1
Reading and References
- Allen, M R Stott, P A Mitchell, J F B Schnur R and Delworth T L (2000) Quantifying the uncertainty on forecasts of anthropogenic climate change. Nature, 407, 617-620.
- Houghton J T Ding, Y Griggs, D J Noguer, M Van Der Linden, P J and Xiaosu D (eds.) (2001) Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis Contribution of Working Group I to the Third/Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, UK, pp 944. Also available at http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/.
- Souch C (2003) Getting information about the Past: palaeo and historical data sources. Clifford, N.J. and Valentine, G. (eds), Key Methods in Geography. Sage 195-208