Climate Change Science - Course Descriptions

U GEO 108N Climate Change – Past and Future, 3 cr. Offered autumn. Same as CCS 108N. The geoscience perspective on the earth’s climate system. Climate processes and feedbacks, climate history from early earth to the ice ages, present and future changes due to natural processes and human activities.

U ERTH 303N Weather and Climate, 3cr. Offered autumn. Same as CCS 303N. Prereq., GEOG 102N or consent of instr. Origin, composition, structure, and dynamics of the atmosphere, gas and radiation laws, energy budget and balance, weather elements and North American weather systems.

UG GEO 382 Global Change, 3 cr. Offered spring. Same as CCS 382. Prereq., consent of instr. Lectures, readings, and discussions on geological and geochemical processes that affect global change using recent literature; carbon dioxide buildup, greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, desertification, ice ages, and other global events.

UG FOR 407 Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 3 cr. Offered spring odd numbered years. Same as DBS/GEO/CCS 407. Six elements – carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus make up 95% of the mass of Earth’s biosphere, and provide the biochemical foundation for all of life. The global cycles of these elements in their biological, geological and chemical forms constitute the biogeochemical cycles. Human activities are driving profound changes in these cycles, with potentially devastating effects. Increases in atmospheric CO2, global climate change, increases in the use of inorganic N and P fertilizers, ozone depletion, among others, are all happening at unprecedented rates. In this course, we explore how variations in the availability or utilization of these and other critical Earth elements influences the atmosphere, the oceans, and the terrestrial biosphere including the natural and agricultural ecosystems on which we depend. Beetle kill in Colorado

UG GEO 488 Snow, Ice and Climate, 3 cr. Offered spring. Same as CCS 488. Prereq., MATH 100. Study of basic physical processes occurring n snow and ice, and how these processes govern the interaction between frozen water and the climate system. The first half of the course focuses on snow, with special attention to snow formation in the atmosphere, snow metamorphism, water flow through snow, and basic avalanche mechanics. The second half of the course focuses on ice and includes glacier and ice sheet flow dynamics, glacier hydrology, and ice age theory. Graduate students will be required to complete additional problem sets requiring higher level math; perform additional reading assignments; perform at a higher level on assignments and exams where students are asked to outline and describe various physical processes; submit a well researched and reference research proposal that is able to synthesize previous research and provide a sophisticated research plan.