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Earth's Changing Climate

General

Prefix

AHS

Course Number

278

Course Level

Undergraduate

Department/Unit(s)

Atmospheric & Hydrologic Sciences

College/School

College of Science and Engineering

Description

Earth's climate system, external and internal causes of climate change, feedback effects, history of earth's climate, historical examples of the impact of climate change on human populations. Modern climate change and its human causes and impacts. International societal efforts to mitigate or adapt to climate change. Projections of the future of earth's climate, their uncertainty, and implications.

Credits

Min

3

Max

3

Repeatable

No

Goals and Diversity

MN Goal Course

Yes

MN Goal Designation(s)

10

Cultural Diversity

No

Learning Outcomes

Outcome

Describe the climate system, its components, and their interactions.

Outcome

Describe how the greenhouse effect warms the earth and identify the relationship between greenhouse gases and changing climate.

Outcome

Identify the main features of the atmospheric and oceanic circulations and explain their role in maintaining the climatic equilibrium.

Outcome

Explain why a warmer climate may be more variable or extreme and why it may be less variable or extreme.

Outcome

Analyze the impact of changing climate on human society and society’s historical response to these changes.

Outcome

Identify the international organizations addressing climate change and assess their organizational strengths and weaknesses.

Outcome

Identify possible solutions to mitigate and/or adapt to modern climate change and evaluate one such solution in terms of how effective it might be.

Course Outline

Course Outline

The climate system, its components and their interactions. 5% Energy balance and the natural and anthropogenic greenhouse effect. 5% Climate change: external and internal causes, time scales, and feedback effects. 10% Basic structure of the climate/circulation of the atmosphere and the ocean. 20% -Tropical vs. extratropical atmospheric circulations -Monsoons -Surface and deep ocean circulations History of Earth’s climate including its impact on the development of civilization. 10% Historic climatic influences on human cultures. 10% Modern climate change: anthropogenic causes and impacts. 10% Human response to the changing climate: the IPCC, mitigation strategies, adaptation strategies. 15% Projections of future climate change: science, policy and the role of uncertainty. 15%

Dependencies

Courses

AHS278 is a prerequisite for:

Programs

AHS278 is a completion requirement for: