Download Global Climate Change______Prof

Geology 104:Global Climate Change
Spring 2008
Prof. Jeff Niemitz
Lecture: 10:30 M-W-F Kaufman 159
Lab: M or T 1:30-4:30pm Kaufman 134
Hurricanes Katrina and Ivan, Australian and African drought, Arctic sea ice melting, El Niñoinduced severe weather in the western US. Hardly a day goes by that we do not hear in the media
about climate disasters some where in the world. More and more commonly these weather events are
attributed to “Global Warming”. Are the activities of 6.7 billion humans causing these climate
changes or are these events ‘business-as-usual’ for a planetary climate system that has fluctuated
dramatically for billions of years? How can we discern the difference? And what are the implications
for humans and civilization as we know it?
In this course we will take an in-depth look at the interactions between the atmosphere, the
hydrosphere (oceans and freshwater), the geosphere (rocks and soils), and the biosphere (plants,
mainly). Specifically we will explore how these complex interactions create weather on Earth and
how weather has changed over deep time, i.e. climate change. We can examine climate change over
time spans of days, weeks, months, and years through the use of simple instruments. In geologic time,
natural chemical, physical, and biological processes recorded climate change and still do in the form of
ice cores, tree rings and coral growth. We will look at how these indicators and others help us to infer
climate change back to the beginning of the earth itself. Then, using these data, we will deduce the
processes which may have driven climate change over longer time scales (1000’s to 100’s of millions
of years) and see how they may have differed from today. Lastly, we will use our new knowledge to
critically assess present and future climate and address the questions noted above. If global warming
has, in fact, begun, is it possible to stop it and, if so, what will it take politically, economically and
even culturally to do so?
Our content objectives, then, are to delve into the science of earth’s climate, past, present, and
future. However, there are other objectives for this course, which ultimately may be more important
than what you learn about climate change. These objectives strive to train you to be an active learner
qualitatively and quantitatively; a science-literate citizen in the 21st century who will need to address
climate change and other global issues. By the end of this course you should be able to do the
following:
 Identify and formulate assumptions, assemble a logical chain of reasoning, use observations to
formulate inferences, detect good and bad data and reasoning, recognize a testable hypothesis, and
use observations to produce a testable hypothesis.
 Find desired information from primary resources in earth sciences including the Internet
 Move from verbal/visual descriptions of a scientific process to an equation quantifying that process
 Communicate your observations, a process, or an argument in oral and written forms
 Be familiar with orders of magnitude calculations and conversion of units
 Understand the significance of different time scales and rates of processes
 Have facility with a map of the earth including locating places using longitude and latitude
 Be able to collect good data, keep good records and discern potential errors in your data
 Have facility with a spreadsheet to organize and perform calculations on data, to graph data in
various ways, to understand and use basic statistical analysis on large data sets
 Understand the difference between accuracy and precision of data
 See where the knowable ends and the unknowable begins thus where problems are simultaneously
unsolved and solvable
 Formulate strategies to answer unanswered questions involving multidisciplinary approaches
including economics, politics, science, religion, and history
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Week of
Topic
Reading
Part I: THE PRESENT CLIMATE SYSTEM
Aug 25
Intro to Global Climate Change
SA: “The Year without Summer”
The Earth’s Climate System: Overview
Sep 1
Energy and Temperature
Atmospheric moisture and chemistry
Sep 8
General Atmospheric Circulation
Ocean-Atmosphere interactions
R: Ch. 1
AS: “El Nino and La Nina”
Sep 9
Special Lecture 3-4:30pm
Mark Pagani – Yale University
IODP Distinguished Lecturer
Sep 15
Atmosphere-Hydrosphere-BiosphereGeosphere Connections
R: Ch. 3
SA: Ocean’s Invisible Forest
AS: “Global Carbon Cycle”
Part II: DISCERNING PAST CLIMATE:
A. The Evidence
Sep 22
Ancient Climate Records
Sep 26
R: Ch. 2
SA: “Greenland Ice Cores”
Jacoby: “Laki Eruption of 17
Proposal for Global Warming Project Due
Sep 26-28
Geol Dept Field Trip
Sep 29
Dating the Climate Record
B. Tectonic-Scale Climate Change
Plate Tectonics and Climate
R: Ch. 4
SA: “Mt. Belts and Supercontinents”
SA: “Plateau Uplift and Climate Change
Oct 6
MID-TERM EXAM
Oct 8-10
Oct 13-14
GSA Meeting (No Class)
Fall Pause
Oct 15-17
Pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic Icehouses
SA: “How Climate Evolved on Terrestrial
Planets”
SA: “Snowball Earth”
Oct 20
The Mesozoic Hothouse/ The Cenozoic
Icehouse
R: Ch. 5-6
Science: Zachos Et.al: “Trends, Rhythms,
and Aberrations…..”
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C. Orbital-Scale Climate Change
Oct 27
Solar Insolation and Milankovitch Cycles
Monsoons
R: Ch. 7-8
Nov 1
Saturday All-day Field Trip – Hot and Cold PA geology
Nov 3
Ice Sheets, Ice Ages,
and Sea Level Change
Nov 5
Preliminary PPT for Global Warming Project Due
Nov 10
R: Ch. 9-11
SA: “What Drives Glacial Cycles”
SA: “Rising Seas”
D. Millennial-Scale Climate Cycles
Since the last Ice Age
R: Ch. 12-14
SA: “Global Warming Trends”
Science: “Cultural Responses to Climate Change”
SA: “Abrupt Climate Change”
SA: “How did Humans 1st Alter Global Climate”
AS: “Climate Change in the Middle East”
Part III: FUTURE CLIMATE? - The Present and Past is the Key to the Future!
Nov 17, 24 Humans and Climate
R: 15-16
AS: “A Second Look at Impacts of Climate..”
SA: “The Coming Climate” (1997)
AS: “Expert Opinion on climate change”
Dec 1
Future Climate
R: Ch. 18-19
AS: “How will Climate Change affect Human
Health”
AS: “Agriculture and CO2”
SA: “Can we Bury Global Warming”
Science: Greenhouse Effect: Sci. and Policy
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Texts: (R) Ruddiman, 2008, Earth’s Climate: Past and Future, 2nd ed., Freeman
Supplemental Readings:
There will be supplemental readings from journals such as Nature, Science, Sci. American
(SA), and American Scientist (AS) to augment the material not covered in the texts or lecture. The
readings can be found on Blackboard: Course Documents.
You should make a habit of reading a reasonable newspaper (Washington Post, NY Times),
newsmagazine (Time, Newsweek, US News), or news website (BBC, CNN) on a regular basis to keep
track of climate-related events throughout the semester. Foreign newspapers tend to be better at
reporting climate events and issues. The Times of London is particularly good and available in the
Library or you can read the foreign papers on-line.
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LOGISITICS:
Office Hours: Kaufman 142, voice mail at x1285, e-mail at [email protected]
T, H (8:30-9:30); H, F (1:30-2:30) or by appointment. I am in my office much more than
this so feel free to call ahead or just stop by.
Grades:
Mid-Term Exam------------------------------------------ 20%
Lab Projects/papers-------------------------------------- 50%
Global Warming Project/Presentation----------------- 30%
Lab project papers not submitted on time will be reduced 3% for each day late. Projects not
received within 10 days of due date will receive a grade of 0. Exceptions will be made for documented
illness or family emergencies.
Mid-term Exam will be mostly essay and/or problems to solve. It will require you to
conceptualize, analyze, and synthesize material. The Global Warming project is described below.
There is no final exam.
Proscriptions on Conduct: I am required by the judicial code of conduct to report any
incidents of intentional or unintentional cheating or plagiarism to the Associate Dean for adjudication.
When in doubt reference any ideas or data that are not your own. All papers and projects should be
your own work. Please follow the guidelines provided for preparing your papers and
presentation.
Accommodation for Disabilities: In compliance with the Dickinson College policy and equal
access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate accommodations that may be recommended for
students with disabilities. Requests for accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of
the semester (except for unusual circumstances) so that timely and appropriate arrangements can be
made.
Students are required to register with Academic Resource Services in the Advising Office
located on the first floor of Biddle House (contact ext. 1080 or [email protected]) to verify
their eligibility for accommodations.
Special Events:
Sep 9 3pm
IODP Distinguished Lecturer Mark Pagani (Yale)
Dr. Pagani is a world expert on rapid climate change of the Eocene and Oligocene
Epochs of geologic history. We are not sure what caused this rapid change but
knowing would be instructive for potential rapid climate change in the future.
Sep 26-28
Geology Department Annual Field Trip
This year the field trip will travel across the Poconos to the Delaware Water Gap
to look at some glacial geology as well as into NJ and up into CT to look at
triassic diabase sills coincident with the opening of the present Atlantic Ocean
and Newark and Hartford basin lake sediments influenced by cyclical climate
change. We will end up at Dinosaur State Park near Hartford for a look at
evidence of their presence in NE US. Participation in this trip is optional but
can take the place of the all-day trip in Nov. We will camp on this trip.
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Laboratory Schedule for Global Climate Change – Geology 104 – Spring 2008
Lab Days:
Aug 25-26
EXCEL/Powerpoint Primer – Your hometown weather
MEET IN TOME 118 COMPUTER LAB
Exercise DUE Sep 1-2 as Office 2003 or 2007 file dropped in Blackboard Drop box
by 5 pm (Credit/No Credit grade)
Sep 1-2
Is Global Warming Real? – A Statistical Analysis of Recent Temperature Data –
MEET IN TOME 118 COMPUTER LAB
Exercise DUE Sep 15-16 as Office 2003 or 2007 file dropped in Blackboard Drop
box by 5 pm - Graded
Sep 8-9
Work independently on “Is Global Warming Real?” project
Sep 9
Combined lab section Special Lecture – Mark Pagani, IDOP Distinguished Lecturer
Title: TBA – 3-4:30pm
Sep 15-16
Climate and ENSO – Paper DUE Sep 29-30 in Blackboard drop box by 5pm
MEET IN TOME 118 COMPUTER LAB
Sep 22-23
Work independently on ENSO project
Sep 29-30
Tree rings and Ice Cores - Paper due Oct 15 in Blackboard drop box by 5pm
Oct 6-7
No Labs (GSA Meeting) – Work independently on Ice and Pollen project
Oct 13-14
Mid-Term Pause
Oct 20-21
Climate and Earth Materials - Paper due Oct 31 in Blackboard drop box by 5pm
Oct 27-28
Mesozoic Climate Field Trip
Nov 1
ALL-DAY FIELD TRIP-The Hot and Cold of PA geology
Paper options: 1) Comparative paper on climate of Mesozoic and Cenozoic NE US
2) Comparative paper on climate of mid-Paleozoic and Cenozoic NE US
Paper due Nov 10-11 in Blackboard drop box by at 5pm
Nov 3-4
Holocene Climate of Africa: Effects on a Civilization
Nov 10-11
Optional Lab for help with Global Warming presentation
Nov 17-18
Global Warming Presentations
Nov 24-25
Global Warming Presentations
Dec 1-2
Global Warming Presentations
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Global Warming & fill-in the blank Presentations (Powerpoint)
Given the amount of information available now on Global Warming and the myriad of implications
significant changes in climate might cause to social and economic structures globally, it is impossible
to cover even a small part of it in lecture and lab. You may be very interested in one aspect of climate
change that is related to your eventual or actual major. Here is an opportunity to research that interest
and learn more for yourself as well as share your interest and teach the rest of us.
Here are some broad potential topics (there are many more):
Sea level Rise
Fossil Fuel Energy
Disease
Severe Weather
Agriculture
Freshwater Availability
Alternative Energy
Conservation
Economics
Biodiversity
Global/National politics and private/public policy
Terrestrial Ecology
Marine Ecology
Carbon sequestration
Others???
Some of these broad topics may be a cause; others may be an effect of Global Warming. Some
could be argued either way. The topic is up to you but it must have some aspect of science in it
especially if you are interested in policy or economics of climate change. You may take any aspect of
the broader topics above for consideration. Indeed, focusing your topic will actually help to reduce
your workload and make for a better, more in-depth presentation. Above all, your topic should be of
significant interest to you.
Each presentation will last no more than 20 minutes with time for questions/discussion at the
end of each.
When you have decided on a focused topic, e-mail me a very short description (proposal)
of what you intend to do by Sep 26 including:
1) Your broad topic and the focus you intend to take
2) 2-3 readings on the topic (No Wikipedia internet sites, please)
A preliminary Powerpoint presentation for review and suggestions is due in Blackboard
drop box by Nov 5. Note there will be a lab period (Nov 10-11) when you can consult with me on
your final Powerpoint presentation. Of course I’m available for consultation anywhere along
the process. Get started early on this project!!!
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