Fall 2024 Earth and Environmental Sciences GU4020 section 001

HUMANS & THE CARBON CYCLE

Call Number 11462
Day & Time
Location
TR 11:40am-12:55pm
417 Schermerhorn Hall [SCH]
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Galen A McKinley
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

Prerequisites: One semester of college-level calculus and chemistry; Plus one semester of college-level physics or geoscience. Or instructor's permission. The accelerating climate change of the current day is driven by humanity’s modifications to the global carbon cycle. This course offers an introduction basic science of the carbon cycle, with a focus on large-scale processes occurring on annual to centennial timescales. Students will leave this course with an understanding of the degree to which the global carbon cycle is understood and quantified, as well as the key uncertainties that are the focus of current research. We will build understanding of the potential pathways, and the significant challenges, to limiting global warming to 2o C as intended by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The course will begin with a brief review of climate science basics and the role of CO2 in climate and climate change (weeks 1-2). In weeks 3-4, the natural reservoirs and fluxes that make up the global carbon cycle will be introduced. In week 5-6, anthropogenic emissions and the observed changes in climate associated with increasing atmospheric CO2 will be discussed. In weeks 7-11, we will learn about how the land biosphere and ocean are mitigating the increase in atmospheric CO2 and the feedbacks that may substantially modify these natural sinks. In weeks 12-13, the international policy process and the potential for carbon cycle management will be the focus. In weeks 14, students will present their final projects

Web Site Vergil
Department Earth and Environmental Sciences
Enrollment 22 students (25 max) as of 11:06AM Saturday, December 7, 2024
Subject Earth and Environmental Sciences
Number GU4020
Section 001
Division Interfaculty
Note Course prerequisites found here: https://eesc.columbia.edu/c
Section key 20243EESC4020W001