Unit information: Tracing and Observing the Earth System in 2011/12

Unit name	Tracing and Observing the Earth System
Unit code	EASCM1013
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Vance
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	EASC30017 (Oceanography) or an equivalent unit at another institution.
Co-requisites	n/a
School/department	School of Earth Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will cover the major observational approaches used to quantify and understand the Earth System. These include the use of isotopic and chemical tracers that track movement of energy and mass around the major reservoirs of the surface Earth: the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the atmosphere and the biosphere. We will seek to understand the major controls on these tracers on the modern Earth with a view to using them to understand the past, in particular the major changes that the ocean-atmosphere-climate system has undergone over Earth history. It will also include the basics of satellite observation systems that remotely monitor aspects of the modern Earth System, such as the state of the oceans, the biosphere and the cryosphere.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit you will be able to:

• outline the basic logic behind the use of a range of isotopic and chemical tracers of Earth System processes;

• quantitatively analyse data on a range of chemical and isotopic tracers, including mass balance calculations, simple box models etc;

• understand the application of these tracers to the study of the present and past Earth system;

• outline the basic strategies for the remote observation of the Earth and to choose between different methods for different applications;

• synthesise data from a range of scientific sources (especially journal articles) into a quantitative understanding and presentation of the operation of key tracers of the Earth system.

Assessment Information

This unit constitutes 20 credit points and will contribute 200 marks to your end-of-year result. It will be assessed through a 3-hour exam in January. The exam will consist of two parts of equal weight: (i) short answer, quantitative questions that test analytical abilities; (ii) more discursive, essay-type questions that test abilities in synthesising information from the course. Assessment will be based on faculty criteria.

Reading and References

The reading material listed here is for the purposes of researching background to the lecture material. Further reading, more advanced and mostly from scientific journals, will be given in the handout for each teaching session.

• Seinfeld, J.H. and Pandis, S.N. (2006) Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry, 2nd edition, John Wiley and Sons, 1203pp.

• Sarmiento, J.L. and Gruber, N. (2006) Ocean biogeochemical dynamics, Princeton University Press, 526pp.

• Zeebe, R.E. and Wolf-Gladrow, D. (2001) CO2 in seawater: equilibrium, kinetics, isotopes, Elsevier Oceanography Series 65, Amsterdam, 346pp.

• Ruddiman, W.F. (2000) Earth’s climate: past, present and future, W.H. Freeman, New York, 465pp.

• Keeling, R.K. (2006) The Atmosphere, Treatise on Geochemistry, vol. 4, Elsevier, 364pp.

• Killops S. and Killops V. (2005) Organic Geochemistry 2nd Ed., Blackwell Publishing, 393pp.