Geography 4/532:  Climatological Aspects of Global Change
Fall 2007:  2:00-3:20 Tues & Thurs, 206 Condon Hall

Instructor:  Patrick J. Bartlein, 154 Condon Hall, x6-4967, bartlein@uoregon.edu, office hours:  2:00-3:30p Weds.
GTF:  Paul Blanton, 205 Condon Hall, x6-4564, pblanton@uoregon.edu, office hours:  1:00-2:00p Mon.
 
Overview:  This course will focus on the concepts and procedures that underlie projecting the variations of the Earth’s climate system over the next few decades to centuries.  We will rely mainly on the projections undertaken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing the Fourth Assessment Report.
 
Web Pages:

Prerequisites:  Geog. 321 (Climatology) or Geog. 322 (Geomorphology) or 323 (Biogeography) or their equivalents; however, all  are recommended.

 

Grading:  Undergraduates:  Two exams (40% each), the first in-class, and the second take-home, and an annotated collection of five Internet URLs that feature global change-related material (10%), and discussion of ten of the submitted URLs (10%).  Graduates:  Two exams (30% each), the first in-class, and the second take-home, an annotated collection of five Internet URLs that feature global change-related material (10%), and discussion of ten of the submitted URLs (10%), annotated bibliography focusing on a global climate-change issue (20%)
 

Texts: 

  • Climate Change 2007:  The Physical Science Basis, IPCC Working Group I Fourth Assessment Report, Cambridge Univ. Press (paper, ISBN-13: 978-0521705967) available on-line at http://www.ipcc.ch as .html and Acrobat .pdf files

  • Weart, S.R  (2004) The Discovery of Global Warming, Harvard Univ. Press (paper,  ISBN 0674016378, also available online at http://www.aip.org/history/climate/).

  • Archer, D. (2006)  Global Warming, Understanding the Forecast,  Blackwell (paper, ISBN-13: 978-1405140393) (recommended)

  • Kolbert, E. (2006) Field Notes from a Catastrophe, Bloomsbury USA (paper, ISBN-13: 978-1596911307) (recommended)
Schedule

Date

Lecture

Topic -- See individual lecture pages for readings

9-25 (Tu)

1

Overview:  Global warming, the IPCC, and the AR4

  

9-27 (Th)

2

The climate system

  

10-2 (Tu)

3

Climate history

  

10-4 (Th)

4

Changes in atmospheric composition and radiative forcing

  

10-9 (Tu)

5

Observed changes in the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface

  

10-11 (Th)

6

Observed changes in snow, ice, and land cover

  

10-16 (Tu)

7

Observed changes in the ocean and in sea level

  

10-18 (Th)

8

Paleoclimatology and data-model comparisons

  

10-23 (Tu)

9

To be announced

  

10-25 (Th)

 

Exam

  

10-30 (Tu)

 10

Climate-biosphere coupling

  

11-1 (Th)

11

Climate models and their evaluation

  

11-6 (Tu)

12

Detection, understanding and attribution of climate change

  

11-8 (Th)

13

Global climate projections - I

  

11-13 (Tu)

14

Global climate projections - II

  

11-15 (Th)

15

Regional climate projections

  

11-20 (Tu)

16

Impacts

  

11-27 (Tu)

17

The US Climate Change Science Program

  

11-29 (Th)

18

What's next?

  
12-4 (T)   Take-home exam due--5pm  

 
 

Expected effort:  Lectures will meet for 1.5 hours each, twice a week.  Tracking down and describing the URLs that must be contributed and commenting on them should take about two hours per week.  In addition to the usual reading and study outside of class, it will be beneficial to spend a little time each day to follow the day-to-day variation of the weather and progression of the season in a regular fashion.
 

Other topics:  The visual inspection and interpretation of the maps and images will be important, but accommodation for alternative methods of course-material access may be possible--please see me as soon as possible.  Collaboration on the take home exam may be useful, but answers should be written individually. Other academic dishonesty policies will be enforced. (see, for discussion):  http://studentlife.uoregon.edu/judicial/conduct/sai.htm). 

Also, the support provided by the following may be useful:
     UO Campus Life Resources http://www.uoregon.edu/~stacaf/UGCampus.htm and
     Academic Learning Services http://www.uoregon.edu/~als/index.html