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 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Ros Death |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
GEOG20003 The Earth System AND GEOG20004 Fundamentals of Modern Glaciology |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
Faculty | Faculty of Science |
The unit aims to give students a full understanding of the major biogeochemical processes that prevail in ice sheets and oceans, with an emphasis on wider global impacts. The series of lectures, seminars and computer- based practicals aims to link global biogeochemical cycles within ice to downstream impacts on surface oceans and how these additional nutrient inputs cycle through the surface waters to the bottom of the oceans. A particular focus will be the importance of glacier-sourced nutrients on marine productivity and biodiversity.
The initial part of the course will introduce the main elemental cycles of carbon, phosphate, nitrogen, oxygen, silica and iron within the cryosphere and the Oceans, and their relationship to climate in the present, as well as investigating the past and future projections. The lecture series will include 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. It will consider time periods where the ice sheets were much more extensive than present day and the associated feedbacks on the climate system through the changes in the cycling of nutrients from the cryosphere to the ocean. Future projections of a warming world will be investigated using past analogues of warm periods where the cycling of carbon, oxygen, phosphate and nitrogen within the ocean will be investigated with a focus on the adaption or loss of ecosystems to these biogeochemical changes.
The unit will conclude with application of an earth system model which will allow the investigation of the sensitivity of ocean’s biogeochemistry to changes in the glacial inputs and the potential feedbacks to the climate system.
On completion of this Unit students should be able to:
The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:
The unit will be taught through a blended combination of online and, if possible, in-person teaching, including
Take-home assessment at the end of the teaching block (70%) [ILOs 1 and 3-5]
Project Report (30%) (circa. 2500 words or 3 sides of A4, 11-point Arial, single-spaced, 2cm margins) [ILOs 1-5]
Essential:
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.
Middleburg, J. (2018) Marine Carbon Biogeochemistry A Primer for Earth System Scientists, SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-10822-9.
Further Reading:
Further Reading is provided at the end of each lecture.