Rutgers Undergraduate Courses Related to Climate and Environmental Change
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
+ Read more.
01:460:102 INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY II (3)
Principles and concepts of plate tectonics and reconstructing past geography and environments; the history of Earth's climate, environments, biogeochemical cycles, and life through time. Designed for majors and minors.
01:460:110 SEA CHANGE: THE RISE AND FALL OF SEA LEVEL AND THE JERSEY SHORE (3)
History of climate and sea-level change over the past billion years.
01:460:202 ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY (3)
Analyses of issues and case studies related to cleaning of the environment, finding and using resources, predicting and mitigating natural disasters, and understanding global change.
01:460:203 BUILDING AND MAINTAINING A HABITABLE PLANET (3)
Understanding human-caused environmental changes in the context of Earth’s 4.6 billion year history. Geological and human timescales; planetary habitability; planetary, biological, and civilization flows of energy and entropy; feedbacks between life, the carbon cycle, and climate; the evolution of complex life; human alterations of the Earth system; intelligent life in the Universe.
01:460:204 WATER PLANET (3)
Survey of the science, environmental impact, and resource allocation of water on the Earth. Characteristics of water; hydrologic cycle; runoff and erosion; river systems; past and present climates; water quality; political and economic aspects of water.
01:460:208 THE LAST 11,000 YEARS (3)
Geologic events since the last ice age. Sea-level changes, volcanism, earthquakes, climatic change, erosional and depositional effects. Ancient record of events, myths
01:460:212 EARTH AND LIFE THROUGH TIME (3)
Relationships between the development of Earth and its continents and oceans, atmosphere and climate, and the evolution of life through time. Designed for non-majors.
01:460:418 GEOLOGICAL MODELING (3)
Pre- or corequisites: 01:460:301,307,340, and 341
Computer techniques for collection, processing, interpretation, and presentation of geological and geophysical data. Computer-based modeling exercises in geologic and geophysical exploration and environment assessment.
01:460:434 THE QUATERNARY PERIOD (3)
Glaciology and glacial geology; study of erosion and deposition by glaciers; creation of landforms; effect of the glacial period on flora and fauna.
01:460:476 HISTORY OF THE EARTH SYSTEM (3)
Integration of atmospheric, oceanographic, geological and biological concepts with an historical perspective to introduce the major processes that have shaped Earth's environment; climatic processes on geological time scales; the evolution of organisms; the cycling of elements; the feedbacks between these processes.
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources
+ Read more.
11:216:317 CONSERVATION ECOLOGY (3)
Pre-Requisite(s): 01:119:102 OR 01:119:116 OR equivalent OR permission of instructor. (SEBS/SAS Core Curriculum -Contemporary Challenges [CC] & Discipline-based writing [WCd])
This is a writing- and reading- based course in which students will become familiar with the major environmental challenges of our time, including species extinctions, terrestrial and marine habitat destruction, climate change, invasive species, and the environmental consequences of food and energy systems. Typically 50 pages of reading per week and weekly writing assignments.
*This course meets the Core Curriculum requirement for Contemporary Challenges [CC] and Writing and Communication [WCD]. On completion, students will be able to analyze the relationship that science and technology have to a contemporary social issue [CC] and communicate effectively in modes appropriate to a discipline or area of inquiry [WCD].
11:216:320 CONTROVERSIES IN SUSTAINABILITY (3) (used to be called Sustainable Environmental Management)(online)
Sustainability is one of the dominant economic, environmental and social issues of the 21st century. This course will use online materials (articles, papers, podcasts, video, etc.) to examine controversial topics like climate change, natural gas drilling, renewable energy, and others. Discussions will provide a forum for debate and further examination of the issues.
11:216:407 MODELING OF WATERSHED HYDROLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE (3)
Professor Subhasis Giri of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences is teaching a new course: "Modeling of Watershed Hydrology and Climate Change", which teaches students in the modeling of watershed hydrology and climate change. Syllabus here. Flyer here.
This course will introduce students to a physically based spatially distributed watershed scale model known as Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Additionally, students will learn SWAT Calibration and Uncertainty Programs (SWAT-CUP) for SWAT model calibration and uncertainty analysis for different water fluxes and water quality parameters. After taking this course, students will understand the movement of water, sediment, and nutrients both in the terrestrial and aquatic systems under current as well as future climate conditions. There will be guest lectures from industry to provide a different perspective of watershed modeling. Additionally, this course will consist of both lectures and labs. This course will culminate in a public presentation of term projects of individual groups to audiences including students, staff, and faculties. This course is designed in such a way that it will facilitate students to get jobs in industry, academia, and research institutes after graduation.
11:216:451 GLOBAL CHANGE ECOLOGY (3)
Analysis of the major global changes based on principles of ecosystems ecology; carbon, nutrient, and pollution cycling mechanisms and budgets; the methods used to study these phenomena.
11:216:468 CHINA AND ITS ENVIRONMENT (3)
This course will focus on major environmental and ecological issues in China in the past decades, such as pollutions, soil erosion, deforestation/reforestation, desertification and urbanization, as well as strategies to deal with the challenges. Driving forces, such as population pressure, economic growth, globalization, climate change and socio-politicial factors, will be examined through lectures and projects. The course will also introduce the growing opportunities (eg. business, private industry, academia and government agents) in environment and conservation areas.
Department of Environmental Sciences
+ Read more.
11:375:101 INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (3)
It is our goal to introduce the field of environmental science and show how an understanding of
the natural world around us and the application of the scientific method can help us to address the problems facing our planet. Our specific objectives are to:
1. Introduce a variety of environmental problems, and solutions, in a scientific context.
2. Enable students to understand environmental issues using a scientific approach.
3. Improve basic scientific literacy.
11:375:103 INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH (3)
This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to and overview of the key areas of environmental health. Using the perspectives of the population and community, the course will cover factors associated with the development of environmental health problems. Students will gain an understanding of the interaction of individuals and communities with the environment, the potential impact on health of environmental agents, and specific applications of concepts of environmental health. The course will consist of a series of lectures and will cover principles derived from core environmental health disciplines. Course will discuss disease causation by chemical, physical and biological agents; agent sources/reservoirs, modes of transmission and methods of control; chemical/biological warfare agents and preparedness; disease surveillance and disease causing agent monitoring systems. In addition to academic concepts, the course topics will also be discussed from a field-practitioners point of view.
11:375:197 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE LITERACY (3)
11:375:203:01 – PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (3)
11:375:322 ENERGY TECHNOLOGY AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (3)
The purpose of this course is to critically examine the technology of energy systems that will be acceptable in a world faced with global warming, environmental pollution, and declining supplies of oil. The course examines traditional (oil, natural gas, coal), renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biomass), and other non-carbon emitting sources (nuclear) and reduced carbon sources (co-generation, fuel cells). Both devices as well as overall systems will be analyzed.
11:375:346 INTRODUCTION TO ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY (3)
Principles of atmospheric chemistry. Issues include the Antarctic ozone hole, ozone smog, acid rain, air toxics, greenhouse gases, and aerosols. Environmental implications of changing atmospheric composition.
11:375:421 PRINCIPLES OF AIR POLLUTION (3)
The course provides scientific basis to understand and become familiar with the sources, causes, health and environmental effects, research, control, and regulation of air pollution. The course follows the analysis and application of the above along a process continuum that starts from the source and stops at the effects of air pollutants.
11:375:431 SPECIAL TOPICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: THE TERRESTRIAL CARBON CYCLE (3)
Prerequisites: Biology 119:115 or 119:103 AND Chemistry 101:160:161
Instructor: Mary Whelan. Meets Tues and Fri 9:15 – 10:35 am ENR Room 323
The goal of the course will be to capture the major land processes that affect the amount of carbon in the global atmosphere. We will cover a simplified global carbon cycle, general land use change, wetlands, peatlands, and “blue carbon”, de- / reforestation and carbon offsets schemes, agricultural practices and soil erosion, and urban landscapes all through the lens of carbon cycle impacts. Graduate students welcome, please contact Martha Pineda at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
+ Read more.
01:450:101 EARTH SYSTEMS (3)
Systematic introduction to physical processes on earth; including earth-sun relations, weather and climate, the hydrologic cycle, earth materials, and landforms. Emphasis on interrelationships among these phenomena.
01:450:102 TRANSFORMING THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT (3)
Introduction to the role of humans as modifiers and transformers of the physical environment. Emphasis on current changes and contemporary public issues.
01:450:213 THE GLOBAL CLIMATE SYSTEM (3)
Exploring the climate system from a geographic perspective. The Earth's energy budget, hydrologic cycle, and atmospheric circulation examined at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Natural and human-associated aspects of climate variability and change investigated.
01:450:311 NATURAL HAZARDS AND DISASTERS (3)
This course is about the interaction of humans with extreme natural events like storms, floods, earthquakes and droughts. We will examine how people become vulnerable to such events, how they are affected by them, how they contribute to causing them, how they cope-or fail to cope- and what they do when existing adjustments are unsuccessful.
01:450:313 CLIMATE CHANGE (3)
Climate variability and change of the past, present and future are explored. Natural and anthropogenic dimensions of change across continents, ice sheets and oceans are studied using a systems approach.
01:450:370 CLIMATE CHANGE AND SOCIETY (3)
Physical aspects and societal implications of climate change. Means of predicting and detecting change. Impacts on physical and human systems. Climate in the political arena; planning for the future.
01:450:403,404 ADVANCED PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY (3)
Problems in the geography of landforms, climate, soils, and vegetation analyzed from the viewpoints of both pure and applied sciences.
01:450:213 CLIMATE SYSTEM AND GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE (3)
Climate is much more than just an average of weather conditions over an extended period of time (“climate is what you expect, weather is what you get”, or “climate is your personality, weather is your mood”). Rather, climate in the broadest sense involves a series of energy transformations and exchanges within and between the atmosphere and the underlying surface. The climate system is far from static, varying on many scales of time and space. In this day and age, the climate system is impacting humankind and in turn, responding to human influences.
01:450:413 / 16:450:523 EXPLORING CLIMATE CHANGE INDICATORS (3)
Exploring Climate Change Indicators, taught by Professor David Robinson, is available to take in Spring 2022. This seminar will explore Earth’s changing climate by examining indicators that are used to express the rate and magnitude at which key aspects of the climate system are varying. The seminar is available to undergraduates by permission only, and to any interested graduate student. For further information and for receiving undergrad permission, see here or contact Prof. Robinson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
+ Read more.
01:510:248 HISTORIES OF THE LITTLE ICE AGE
This course gets us to think about our current crisis by exploring in detail an earlier climate crisis, exploring the environmental, social, political, and cultural impact of a centuries-long phase of fluctuating climatic cooling usually known as the “Little Ice Age” (LIA), c.1300-1850.
01:506:249 CLIMATE POLITICS: A DEEP HISTORY
Explores how the climate has shaped human history, and how humans have shaped the climate over time.
+ Read more.
11:374:102 GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (3)
Scientific and policy dimensions of international environmental affairs; problems, response mechanisms, regional and national activities, and alternative strategies.
1:374:115 WATER AND SOCIETY (3)
This course introduces students to fundamentals of water resources issues in the United States and the world, and how they affect the development, design, evolution and sustainability of societies and economic viability. Included will be discussion of case examples where conflicts over water allocations, drought limitations, water quality problems and catastrophic floods are damaging societies and international relations. Students will be exposed to and discuss current and developing methods for reducing such problems in support of more sustainable societies.
11:374:175 ENERGY AND SOCIETY (3)
Prerequisite: None
Description: Examines the social, environmental, economic and political impacts of our current human-energy system. Topics investigated include why societies make the energy choices they do, tools for analyzing energy decisions, and strategies and policies for transforming the human- energy system.
11:374:220 ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS (3)
The causes of modern environmental problems are complex and multi-faceted. As our understanding of this complexity has grown, societies have begun to explore solutions beyond the traditional government regulatory approaches. This class focuses on understanding the complex causes of environmental problems and the full range of non-regulatory approaches to improving the environment. By focusing on understanding the causes and contexts of environmental problems along with innovative environmental solutions, the class aims to provide students an understanding of under what conditions various environmental solutions are appropriate and should be applied.
11:374:269 POPULATION, RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT (3)
The interaction between populations, resources, and the environment in the developed and
developing world.
11:374:279 POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES (3)
People fight over issues like organic food or natural gas drilling because they have different values, define problems differently, and aim for different goals. In this introductory course, we use environmental issues to learn about political conflicts, government, and policy.
1:374:299 INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY (3)
You see the word Sustainability attached to so many things, but what does it really mean? Are bamboo socks really important? Will electric cars save the world from climate change? What makes development sustainable? How do you measure success in sustainability? Given the long term risk of climate change, what management actions provide the most benefit and why aren’t we already doing them?
In this class, you will learn: Perspectives on sustainability: environmental, economic and social as well as the metrics for measuring components of sustainability.
11:374:223 URBAN SOCIETY & ENVIRONMENT (3)
Prerequisite: None
Description: This course will explore the antagonism between Black people and the world as it relates specifically to urban America. We will consider the fraught nature of environment from a variety of perspectives, historically and in the contemporary moment. In studying the antagonism inherent in urban environments, evidence is widely available. Among the materials we will rely on are: writings including memoir, social science and humanities literature, and print media; photographs, films, and other imagery; archival sources; and publicly available data. Taken together, our investigations will illuminate where the antagonism resides, how Black people negotiate it, and where we might look for solutions.
11:374:225 ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH IN SOCIETY AND THE MASS MEDIA (3)
Prerequisite: None
Description: This course will provide an introduction to the social, mass media and social media presentation of environmental and health. Students will explore how knowledge, attitude, behaviors, and social structure influence public perceptions and opinions of environmental and health risk. We will focus on depictions of environment and health: what effects those depictions have in perceptions of these topics, the role of audience and source on communication, and the implications for those working to address environmental and health issues. Particular examples of social and media coverage will be used to provide an insight into the workings of the mass media and their effect on society.
11:374:250 ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (3)
Prerequisite: None
This course examines environmental quality and social justice. It starts from the premise that all people have a right to live in a clean environment and access resources to sustain health and livelihood. We will investigate under what conditions some people are denied this basic right and how some have fought back. How is it that certain groups of people experience the effects of pollution or environmental hazards more than others, or lack basic resources? What are the social relations of production and power that contribute to these outcomes? How have people organized to demand environmental justice?
11:374:305 GLOBALIZATION, DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT (3)
Prerequisite: None
Description: This course examines the processes at play in globalization and development and the impacts of these processes on the environment. Relevant histories, policies, and institutions are examined, with a focus on such issues as poverty, trade, migration, and inequality, among others. Emphasis of the course will be on understanding the social, political and economic factors that have contributed to globalization and development, and the environmental impacts of these trends, and the degree to which communities, nations and global institutions have the ability to manage these problems, and with what solutions.
11:374:312 ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY (3)
Prerequisite: None
Description: This course examines environmental problems from a historical perspective. We will begin with the dawn of agriculture, but most of the course focuses on our two centuries-long experiment with industrial civilization. The first two-thirds of the course sketches out the broad historical patterns in the ways that people have used natural resources. The last third of the course looks at the history of pollution generated by industry and considers important historical features of the American environmental movement, in particular the way that the movement has changed in response to changes in environmental problems. Throughout the course we will consider the following question: to what extent are individuals, households, and local communities contributing to our, as yet largely unsuccessful, collective efforts to control and stabilize the global environment? This question will lead us into an historical examination of sustainable development in both developed and developing countries.
11:374:313 US ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY (3)
Course objectives: To further develop your capacity to evaluate environmental policy issues, including: how policy issues rise to national action; the science and scientific controversies; major actors in U.S. environmental policy creation and their roles; the relationship between environmental policies and the context in which they operate; how budgets and public administration affect environmental policies; and how environmental policy issues reflect or do not reflect regional or factional differences. Given the enormous variety of environmental issues active at any one time, this course will focus on four high-profile issues as examples for learning about environmental policy development.
1:374:315 INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY (3)
The creation of international institutions to deal with shared and global environmental problems, such as ocean use and population. Assessment of the effectiveness of existing/proposed regimes, using decision-making simulations.
11:374:325 ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION (3)
Effective communication can be as important to achieving environmental goals as good science. Because corporations, government agencies, and advocacy groups realize this, there are increasing numbers of jobs that require these skills; public information and communication positions are available in a variety of settings. These positions require not only effective oral and written communication skills, they also require an understanding of how to develop effective outreach plans.
11:374:335 COMMUNITIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (3)
Analysis of people's responses to environmental stresses or disturbances and the ways in which response patterns change. Second term is individual or group field research.
11:374:426 CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY (3)
This course is an advanced seminar that examines topics in social, cultural and political aspects of climate change policy. We will look at the science of climate change and why it has been so contested in some quarters; the existing and predicted physical, cultural and societal impacts of climate change and how policies are developed to avoid or adapt to these; how vulnerability to climate change is measured and whether societies will be able to adapt to forecasted changes; multiscale policies from local levels to international levels to mitigate or adapt to climate impacts; and the ethical and social justice dimensions of policies for climate change.
04:567:340 SCIENCE AND HEALTH JOURNALISM (skills course) (3) 04:567:415 MEDIA, SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT (3) Department of Marine & Coastal Sciences 11:628:204 THE WATER PLANET (3) 11:628:221 HUMAN INTERACTIONS WITH COASTAL OCEAN (3) 11:628:303 OCEAN SCIENCE INQUIRY (3) 11:628:342 MARINE CONSERVATION (3) 11:628:401 (S) SCIENCE IN SHORELINE MANAGEMENT (3) 11:628:451 PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY (4) 11:628:474 (S) COASTAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES IN A CHANGING WORLD (3) 11:628:476 (F) HISTORY OF THE EARTH SYSTEM (3) 11:628:497,498 SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN MARINE & COASTAL SCIENCES (3) 11:670:101 INTRODUCTION TO METEOROLOGY (3) 11:670:102 INTRODUCTION TO CLIMATE SCIENCE (3) 11:670:111-112 WEATHER, CLIMATE, AND TELEVISION I, II (1.5 each) 11:670:211 METEOROLOGICAL ANALYSIS 11:670:212 COMPUTATIONAL METHODS FOR METEOROLOGY (3) 11:670:323 THERMODYANMICS OF THE ATMOSPHERE (3) 11:670:324 DYNAMICS OF THE ATMOSPHERE (3) 11:670:334 SEVERE WEATHER FORECASTING FIELD TRIP (3) 11:670:414 HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES (3) 11:670:431 PHYSICAL METEOROLOGY (3) 11:670:433 WEATHER ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING I: SYNOPTIC METEROLOGY (4) 11:670:434 II: WEATHER ANALYSIS AND FORECASTING II: MESOSCALE METEROLOGY (3) 11:670:444 TROPICAL METEOROLOGY (3) 11:670:451 REMOTE SENSING OF OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE (3) 11:670:453 AIR QUALITY MONITORING 11:670:461 CLIMATE DYNAMICS (3) 01:750:140 THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT (3) 11:300:340 COMMUNICATING & TEACHING CLIMATE SCIENCE (3) 11:300 (or 704):416 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM (3) Sustainability Minor/Certificate Fact Sheets On Incorporating the Sustainability Minor into Undergraduate Degree Programs can be found here.+ Read more.
Pre-requisites: 04:567:310 or 04:567:325, journalism major
To introduce students to the specialized fields of science, health and technology writing
Prerequisites: Junior or Senior status, journalism major
This course will consider the intersections of science, media, and society. With a focus on both
theory and practice, it explores the media's role in understanding and communicating about the
most critical science and environmental issues of the day.+ Read more.
Characteristics of water: hydrologic cycle; runoff and erosion; river systems; past and present climates. Environmental impact; resources of water; political and economic aspects of water.
This course is designed to identify the ways that scientific knowledge can be used to resolve environmental problems. The contemporary problem of loss of marine resources and difficulties of restoring and conserving them is placed in a human and environmental context to obtain a broad perspective on the application of science to societal goals. Topics will be multidisciplinary to document the complexity of environmental problems and their potential solutions. Topics will be related to effects of global climate change, pollution, loss of natural environments, management of threatened and endangered species, extraction of living and non-living resources, and mitigation of natural hazards.
Prerequisites: 1 semester of General Biology OR 1 semester of General Chemistry OR Introduction to Environmental Science OR Introduction to Oceanography (or permission of instructor).
The goal of this course is to familiarize undergraduate students with different topical and emerging issues facing the oceans. The course, led by graduate students and post-doctoral researchers along with a faculty advisor, will touch on key principles in oceanography and environmental sciences and equip students with a deeper understanding of the science behind a number of “hot topics” in marine science prevalent in media coverage. Through a combination of weekly lectures, group discussions and exercises, which draw from the primary literature, this course further aims to enhance critical thinking, the integration of science principles, and science communication. Current topical areas include climate change impacts, sea-level rise, hurricanes, threats to coastal habitats, ocean resources, and emerging ocean technologies.
Prerequisites: 11:628:320 or 11:704:351
This course focuses on coastal zones as ecosystems of global significance. They are heterogeneous, complex, and biologically diverse. Increasingly, this is where human populations are concentrated. Conservation issues are urgent and not easily addressed because of fragmented jurisdictions and competing uses. The course attempts to draw students into thinking about conservation issues and conservation tools and the linkages between science and policy. Following a series of lectures and discussions on issues, conservation tools, and the properties of coastal ecosystems, the course follows the text in using case studies to exemplify those issues and the steps already taken to address them. As part of the evaluation of student performance, students prepare their own case studies.
Prerequisites: Restricted to juniors and seniors. Students who have taken any earth science, bioscience or environmental science course will have sufficient background preparation.
This research-oriented course will be of interest to students in geography, geology, ecology, and coastal sciences and in disciplines related to environmental management. Course material includes identification and discussion of the processes associated with conversion of shores by direct and indirect human actions and the resulting appearance, evolution and function of the coastal landscape. This information is then used to provide a basis for environmental debate and an approach to management of endangered living and non-living resources. Case studies are used to illustrate coastal management practices and the scientific, technical, and social constraints to the application of science to policy formulation. The focus of the course material is on beaches and dunes because human alterations to these features and the natural processes that shape them are so prevalent and visible in the coastal zone.
Prerequisite: 2 terms of calculus
Physical and chemical properties of sea water. Sound and radiation in the oceans. Heat, water, and momentum exchange at air-sea interface. Tides, waves, and currents.
Prerequisite: 11:628:320 Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems
Coastal environments are dynamic zones where terrestrial and marine environments meet. They are high productivity regions of intense biogeochemical cycling that are increasingly challenged by anthropogenic changes including: Sea level rise, ocean acidification, and eutrophication. The course will use coastal systems systems to explore important concepts in marine chemistry in the coastal zone and nearshore sediments and investigate how the disciplines of chemistry, biology and geology are used to understand marine processes in the coastal zone. We will explore 4 coastal environments from the poles to the tropics while building skills in analysis software.
Prerequisites: Introductory courses in Chemistry, Biology, and Physics (or by permission).
Rates atmospheric, oceanographic, geological and biological concepts in an historical perspective to introduce the student to the major processes that have shaped Earth’s environment. The course will examine climatic processes on geological time scales, the evolution of organisms, the cycling of elements, and the feedbacks between these processes.
Practical field/laboratory experience with faculty in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences.+ Read more.
Overview of current weather maps; structure of the atmosphere and the role of moisture in the development of dew, clouds, and precipitation; air masses, fronts, cyclones, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Elements of weather forecasting, instrumentation and communication.
Major climatic controls; climatic classifications and comparisons of major climatic types; an overview of current climate issues such as global warming and El Nino; overview of the global climate.
Pre- or Corequisite: 11:670:201 (for 111), Prerequisite: 11:670:111 (for 112)
Provides a theoretical foundation of television broadcasting and meteorology to supplement the hands-on television experience gained from the WeatherWatcher Living-Learning Community. By examining the history and characteristics of television, critical analyses of news and weather-related programming, and special topics pertaining to meteorology, students will gain a rounded understanding of the medium and its impact on the field of meteorology and broadcasting. This WeatherWatcher Living-Learning Community academic course is required of all first-year residents.
Pre- or Corequisite: 11:670:201
Surface observation codes. Preparation of surface, upper air, and sounding charts. Forecast guidance, weather map interpretation, and preparation of weather forecasts. Map discussions.
Prerequisite: 11:670:211 or permission of instructor
Introduction to the basic concepts of programming and computation for meteorology and earth science students. Elements of compiled and interpreted languages. Development of skills necessary for the reading, analyzing, and plotting of meteorological and climatic data.
Prerequisites: 01:640:152; 11:750:194 or 11:750:204
Thermodynamics of the atmosphere; energy conservation; ideal gas law; water and its transformations; moist air; aerosols; hydrostatic stability and convection; vertical motion; cloud formation; precipitation.
Prerequisite: 01:640:251; 11:670:323
Hydrodynamics of the atmosphere; equations of motion on rotating earth; vorticity, potential vorticity, and divergence; boundary layer dynamics.
Prerequisites: (11:670:210 or 11:670:211) and permission of instructor.
Techniques for the forecasting and safe observation of severe convection; case study analysis of observed events. Two-week field trip required.
Prerequisites: 01:640:151; 01:750:194 or equivalent
Physical processes governing the occurrence and movement of water through the atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Techniques for collecting and analyzing hydrologic data and predicting the hydrologic states of particular systems.
Atmospheric optics; atmospheric radiation and applications to climate; atmospheric convection; cloud and precipitation formation; turbulence and boundary layer processes; atmospheric electricity.
Prerequisites: 11:670:210 or 11:670:211; 11:670:324
Dynamics and thermodynamics of the atmosphere applied to current weather situations and case studies. Cyclone and frontal theory, jet streams, and quasi-geostrophic diagnostics. Weather discussions, map analysis, and forecast preparation. Lecture and Laboratory.
Prerequisite: 11:670:433
Real-time analysis and nowcasting of mesoscale atmospheric phenomena, including heavy snow, cold-air damming, severe weather, and flash floods. Case studies and weather discussions. Laboratory.
The dynamics and thermodynamics of the tropics, including regional and large-scale tropical circulations and their role in the global general circulation, tropical wave dynamics, convection and convective systems, synoptic, intraseasonal, and seasonal variability; monsoons, the El Nino/Southern Oscillation, tropical cyclones and hurricanes.
Methods, instruments, and their application to observations of ocean and atmosphere. Sensing of oceanic parameters such as temperature, salinity, currents, sea state, turbidity and pollutants.
Prerequisites: : 01:640:251 and (01:160:160 or 01:160:162 or ((01:160:159 or 01:160:161) and 11:670:212))
A theoretical foundation to understand the principles and governing equations regarding chemical transformation and transport of atmospheric pollution; introduction to and practice in computer programming and numerical techniques as used in approaches to study the atmosphere.
The climate system and how it is changing due to natural and human causes, including past climate variations, El Nino, global warming, climate modeling, nuclear winter, mitigation options, and geoengineering.+ Read more.
Physical and chemical bases of the "greenhouse effect" and its global impact: biological, climatic, economic, and political. Reducing the emission of "greenhouse" gases; nuclear energy, and other alternative energy sources. For nonscience majors; may not be taken for major credit in science and engineering.+ Read more.
Physical and chemical bases of the "greenhouse effect" and its global impact: biological, climatic, economic, and political. Reducing the emission of "greenhouse" gases; nuclear energy, and other alternative energy sources. For nonscience majors; may not be taken for major credit in science and engineering.
An opportunity to foster ideas and discussion about environmental and scientific literacy while developing plans to target and assess learning goals for all audiences.+ Read more.
