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Paleoclimatology
Syllabus
Course
Geology 606: Paleoclimatology
3:00-4:15, T Th
C310 ESC
Instructor
Summer Rupper
S317 ESC
[email protected]
Office hours: Monday, 3-5
TA
Adam McKean
C371 ESC
Office hours: ????
Blackboard
Homework assignments, reading materials, reminders/updates, and grades will be available
online.
There is also a communications page within blackboard where students can communicate
with me or each other. Feel free to post things, ask questions of me or classmates, reference
articles that may be of interest to the group, etc.
Description
This course examines the dramatic changes in global climate resulting from variations in
solar insolation, changes in ocean circulation, plate tectonics and volcanic activity, the
evolution of vascular plants, and the burning of fossil fuels. Lecture topics will cover periods
in earth’s history that serve as examples of the differing space- and time-scales over which
these climate variations operate. The interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, and land
components of the earth’s climate system will be stressed in lectures, readings, and
homeworks.
Course Objectives
Students should be able to discuss and evaluate these concepts after completing the course:
- Climate varies on all time and space scales
- The processes influencing climate change depend on the timescale of interest
- Data, theory, and numerical modeling are all essential to our understanding of Earth’s
climate
Homeworks, in-class discussions and activities, and lectures are designed to provide students
the opportunity to increase their ability to:
- Critically evaluate primary literature
- Write short papers synthesizing and evaluating scientific data, methods, and theories
- Apply self evaluation and goal setting techniques to improve understanding of course
content and participation in class discussions
Lecture Topics
-Intro to the climate system
components of the earth’s climate system
-Surface energy balance
variations in energy at the earth’s surface, the processes that control that energy
exchange, and the role of greenhouse gases
-General circulation of the atmosphere (and ocean)
dynamic movement of energy, momentum, and mass in the earth’s atmosphere, with
emphasis on how that motion is linked to temporal and spatial changes in the energy
balance, concepts of climate feedbacks and forcings
-Snowball earth
faint young sun paradox, weathering feedback on CO2, runaway feedbacks, evolution
of life and related influences on climate, geologic evidence for climate change
-Cretaceous hothouse
atmospheric CO2 levels and climate, plate tectonics and climate, sea level changes,
ocean acidification analog
-Cenozoic climate
Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: an analog to future global warming
scenarios, tectonic uplift, ocean circulation changes, methane hydrates,
sedimentary δ18O record of temperature
-Pleistocene glaciations
orbital controls on ice sheets; holes in Milankovitch theory; estimates of ice sheet
volume; sea level change; albedo and CO2 feedbacks; theories for changes in carbon
cycling; oxygen and carbon isotopes in sediment cores; oxygen isotopes, dust, and
greenhouse gas records in ice cores
-Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene
precipitation and temperature changes, sea level and ice sheets, Younger Dryas, Little
Ice Age, Medieval Warm Periods, rapid climate change
-Human induced climate change – present and future
anthropogenic production of greenhouse gases, radiation budget perturbations,
aerosols, carbon burial, ocean acidification, projected CO2 increases, predicted
temperature and precipitation changes, impacts on sea level and ocean circulation
Textbook
Earth’s Climate: Past and Future by Bill Ruddiman
Other Books:
Paleoclimatology by Crowley and North
Atmospheric Science: an Introductory Survey by Wallace and Hobbs
Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary by Ray Bradley
Global Physical Climatology by Dennis Hartmann
Grading
Proxy Presentation
Readings and Discussions
Paper Reviews
10%
15%
25%
Problem Sets
Final Exam
25%
25%
Proxy Presentations
Each student will present a 15 minute lecture on 1-2 paleoclimate proxies and provide a
summary/study guide for their classmates on those proxies. The proxies are to include ocean
and lake sediment cores, polar ice cores, tree rings, and speleothems.
Readings and Discussions
4-5 classes will be dedicated to discussing assigned readings from the primary literature.
Students will take turns leading the in class discussion of the journal articles. All students
will be graded on their preparedness and participation during these discussions (see
“Readings and Discussion Rubric”).
Paper Reviews
One week following the discussion of the assigned readings, students will submit a 3-5 page,
single-spaced paper summarizing the assigned articles (see “Discussion Paper Assignment”
and “Discussion Paper Rubric”). Both the discussions and writing exercises are critical steps
towards improving your ability to understand and critically evaluate scientific literature, and
to communicate that knowledge in oral and written form.
Problem Sets
5-6 problem sets will be assigned during the semester. These will be largely quantitative in
nature and will require several hours to complete. I encourage you to work with your peers,
TA, and myself during these problem sets, but your must turn in your own work.
In addition to the homework assignments, there will be 3 numerical modeling projects.
These projects will include computer lab tutorials scheduled during class time. These
projects will also require several hours outside of class time to complete.
Final Exam
There will a comprehensive final exam at the end of the course. The exam will include short
answer and essay questions, as well as several quantitative problems. The questions that will
appear on the exam will be given out two weeks prior to the exam for you to study and
prepare.