Unit name | Ice and Ocean in the Global Carbon Cycle |
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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 |
There are no pre-requisites but students will be offered a revision lecture in the first week to cover material from GEOG25040 Cryosphere 2 that is relevant, as well as additional reading. |
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 species 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), latitudinal gradient, role for ecosystem functioning and services, climate impact (loss, adaptation), last Glacial Maximum case study: the lacking CO2 sink and the iron hypothesis. Those will be linked to fundamentals (e.g. underlying thermodynamics, construction of Bjerrum plot etc) and impacts (ocean acidification, future ocean CO2 uptake, deep time shallow water carbonate precipitation), definition, importance of sediments for the global C cycle and climate, transport and reaction processes, primary and secondory redox reactions, benthic-pelagic exchange, local and global patterns, temporal variations importance for global biogeochemical cycles and climate, mechanisms and controls on organic matter degradation and preservation, temporal and spatial variability, mechanisms of carbonate dissolution/precipitation and burial, temporal and spatial variability. Links between processes in subglacial systems and the bottom of the ocean will be done by exploring our understanding of life at and below the energy minimum (free energy required to phosphylate ADP to ATP), importance (e.g. CH4 hydrates, stability of paleoproxies, reconstruction of paleoenvironments).
Discussion of data from field measurements, numerical modelling and laboratory studies are a major theme of the unit.
Structure and content (including sub-elements)
Element 1: Ice Sheets and global biogeochemical cycles (9 lectures, 3 hrs practical)
3 hr practical for this element looking at molecular datasets/bioinformatics
Element 2: Carbon cycling in the Oceans (8 lectures)
On completion of this Unit students should be able to:
The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:
Critical evaluation of literary sources
Lectures & practical sessions
Final Exam 67% Project Report 33%
Gaidos, E. et al. (2009), An oligarchic microbial assemblage in the anoxic bottom waters of a volcanic subglacial lake, ISME J, 3: 486-497.
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.
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.