Unit name | Extreme Climates of the past |
---|---|
Unit code | GEOG30017 |
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 |
GEOG20003 The Earth System |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
Faculty | Faculty of Science |
In order to assess the anthropogenic impact on climate, it is first necessary to understand natural climate variability. In this unit we consider the available data on the Earth’s climate over geological time focusing particularly on extreme warm and cold episodes in Earth history.
Aims:
Element 1 : Extreme warm climates of the past
This element of the unit will ask students to consider why investigating past climate is important. Its lectures and practicals 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.
Element 2: Ice at both poles
The main focus of this element is how the Earth System behaved during the Quaternary when there extensive ice sheets developed in both hemispheres. The lectures and practicals introduce students to a variety of climate proxy archives that are used to test climate models and constrain climate forcings.
On completion of this Unit students should be able to:
The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:
Critical evaluation of literary sources
The unit will be taught through a blended combination of online and, if possible, in-person teaching, including
Essential Reading
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. 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
Further reading is provided at the end of each lecture