Unit information: Environmental Change 3: Warm Climates in 2014/15

Unit name	Environmental Change 3: Warm Climates
Unit code	GEOG35240
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Rachel Flecker
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	GEOG25060
Co-requisites	N/A
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:

1. devise and run experiments using a simple climate model, manipulate analyse and interpret its output;
2. quantify some of the uncertainties associated with common proxies of past climate;
3. give a reasoned account of the causes and uncertainties in future climate change predictions;
4. 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 (70%) – linked to learning outcomes 3 and 4 Quantify the uncertainties associated with interpreting past sea surface temperature from published analysis of climate proxy (d18O) data (formative) – linked to learning outcome 2 2000 word report assessing the results of a climate model simulation (30%) – linked to learning outcome 1

Reading and References

1. Stocker, et al. (eds.) (2013) Climate Change 2013: The Scientific Basis Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, UK, To be published. Also available at http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1

2. 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