Geography 40: Introduction to Earth System Science
(CCN: 36236)
Fall 2011
Tues & Thurs at 9:30 – 11 AM
McCone Hall 145
Professor:
Name
Dr. Robert Rhew
e-mail
rrhew@berkeley.edu
Office
539 McCone Hall
Office hours
Wed, Thu 3-4 p.m.
Graduate Student Instructors:
Yo-ské Adachi
Raj Singh
yadachi@berkeley.edu
rajshekharsingh@berkeley.edu
565 McCone
583 McCone
Tue 2-3, Wed 1-2
Tue & Thu, 11-12
Labs: Mandatory. Meet in computer lab at 535 McCone Hall. No labs in first week of classes
(1) Monday 3 - 5 PM
(First meeting: 8/29/11)
GSI: Yo-ské Adachi
(2) Wednesday 3 - 5 PM
(First meeting: 8/31/11)
GSI: Raj Singh
(3) Thursday 2 - 4 PM
(First meeting: 9/1/11)
GSI: Raj Singh
(4) Friday
1 - 3 PM
(First meeting: 9/2/11)
GSI: Yo-ské Adachi
Lab policies will be discussed on the first week. You must communicate with your GSI if you
miss a lab. Two unexcused absences = 1 grade drop. 4 unexcused absences = failed grade.
Course website – https://bspace.berkeley.edu . Lecture slides will be posted on this site the
night before the lecture, typically by 8 p.m.
Readings: will be put on reserve in Earth Sciences Library, Ground floor, McCone Hall
Required
1/ The Earth System by L.R. Kump, J. F. Kasting, and R.G. Crane (3rd ed., 2010).
Note: 2nd edition is mostly suitable
2/ Other readings will be distributed in class or on-line
Recommended
1/ Elemental Geosystems, R. Christopherson (6th edition, 2010)
note: 5th ed., 2007 is also suitable
Grading:
Labs
35% 12 labs
Midterm
25% Tuesday, Oct 11, 2011 in-class.
Final Exam 35% Exam Group 7: Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011, 3-6 p.m.
Activities
5%
five in-class assignments, 1% each, see syllabus
Your responsibilities:
* Attend lectures and all labs and be punctual.
* Check our bspace website for announcements and reading materials.
* Participate and ask questions.
* Maintain the highest academic integrity.
* Bring a calculator to class and lab.
updated 8/23/11
1
6 questions about Introduction to Earth System Science
1. What is Earth System Science?
Earth System Science is an interdisciplinary field that describes the cycling of energy and matter
between the different spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere)
of the earth system.
2. What are some typical Earth System Science problems?
We will learn about how the atmosphere, oceans and lithospheric plates move; about the history
of life and climate on our planet; and about modern issues of climate change, stratospheric ozone
depletion, and biodiversity loss.
3. Why take a ‘systems’ approach?
The earth’s spheres interact with each other in an inextricably linked system to allow our planet to
be habitable. Earth’s history is the key to understanding its present and future, and in order to
understand the impact of humans on the earth, we need to understand how the earth itself
functions as a system.
4. Are there pre-requisites for this class?
This class is a survey of earth system science, and it will involve chemistry, math, biology and
physics. However, there are no prerequisites other than algebra, diligence, and an inquisitive
nature.
5. What are the major themes for this class?
This class has 3 major themes with links between present global environmental problems and past
global change:
Present issues
Past analogues
Human-induced climate change
!
Long-term changes in climate & global temperatures
Stratospheric ozone depletion
!
Rise of atmospheric oxygen
Loss of Biodiversity
!
Mass extinctions
6. How do the themes of the class fit with the syllabus?
Weeks 1-8: Earth as a system- sun, atmosphere, oceans, land, cryosphere and biosphere.
Weeks 9-11: Past changes in earth systems and climate: what happened in the past? How do we
know? What can we learn from them?
Weeks 12-15: Modern changes in earth systems and climate: how are we changing the planet?
Berkeley campus code of conduct
Review the campus code of conduct (http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/sja.asp?id=1146), with attention
to what constitutes plagiarism (http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/sja.asp?id=1143):
“Plagiarism is defined as use of intellectual material produced by another person without
acknowledging its source, for example:
• Wholesale copying of passages from works of others into your homework, essay, term paper,
or dissertation without acknowledgment.
• Use of the views, opinions, or insights of another without acknowledgment.
• Paraphrasing of another person’s characteristic or original phraseology, metaphor, or other
literary device without acknowledgment.”
updated 8/23/11
2
updated 8/23/11
Week #
L# Week 1
No Lab
1 (Th) 8/25
GEOG 40 Introduction to Earth System Science- Syllabus
Subject (labs in italics)
Required reading: The Earth
System, 3rd ed. [2nd ed. pages in
brackets]
PART I: THE EARTH AS A SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION
No lab this week
Earth System Science & Geography
Week 2
Lab 1
2 (T) 8/30
THE SUN
Feedback loops, stability, and seasons
The systems approach & seasons
3 (Th) 9/1
Electromagnetic & blackbody radiation: Bring
your calculator!
Week 3
Lab 2
(M) 9/5
THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
EM radiation, global energy balance
Holiday (note: Monday lab group must attend
an alternate lab this week)
Albedo and planetary energy balance
Greenhouse Effect I: Planetary energy
balance 2, Greenhouse gases, atmospheric
structure
In-class assignment #1
4 (T) 9/6
5 (Th) 9/8
Week 4
Lab 3
6 (T) 9/13
7 (Th) 9/15
Week 5
Lab 4
8 (T) 9/20
9 (Th) 9/22
Week 6
Lab 5
10 (T) 9/27
11 (Th) 9/29
THE ATMOSPHERE
Atmospheric CO2 measurements
Greenhouse effect II: water, clouds and ice
feedbacks
Atmospheric circulation I: General circulation
of atmosphere. (demo on Coriolis effect)
Ch2, p. 21-29 [Ch2, p. 18-25]; Ch4, p. 6870 [Ch 4 66-68]
Ch3, p. 36-43 [Ch3 p. 34-41]
Ch1 p. 1-23 [p. 1-22]
Ch3, p. 43-46 [Ch3 p. 41-43]
Ch3, p. 46-55 [Ch3 p. 44-53]
Ch3 p. 75-80 [p. 75-79]
Ch 2, p. 50-58, 62-68 [p. 51-57, 60-68]
Ch4, p. 57-68 [Ch4 p. 55-66]
ATMOSPHERE / OCEANS
The atmosphere
Atmospheric circulation II: Geostrophy and the Ch4, p. 70-75 [Ch4, p. 68-73]
Coriolis effect; Land-ocean effects
Ch5, p.84-91 [Ch5, p. 83-91]
Ocean circulation I: surface currents
OCEANS/ LITHOSPHERE
The oceans
Ocean circulation II: El Nino and thermohaline Ch5, p. 91-106 [Ch15, p. 308-312, Ch5 p.
91-101]
circulation (demo on thermohaline)
In-class assignment #2
Ch7, p. 122-130 [Ch 7, p.117-126]
Earthquakes and what they tell us; Earth's
magnetism (Hollywood demo)
Week 8
No lab
14 (T) 10/11
THE BIOSPHERE
No lab this week
MIDTERM EXAM: Bring your calculator!
PART II: HISTORY OF EARTH
Ch8, p. 159-173 (p. 170-173 only in 3rd
Long term carbon cycle (CO2 flux demo)
16 (T) 10/18
Ch2 p. 37-50 [same]
Ch 3, p. 80-91 [p. 79-90]
LITHOSPHERE / MIDTERM
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (seafloor spreading demo)
Short term global carbon cycle, on land and
ocean.
Week 9
Lab 7
Recommended Reading:
Elemental Geosystems, 7th ed.
[6th ed. pages in brackets]
Ch1, p. 1-12 [Ch1, p1-10]
Week 7
Lab 6
12 (T) 10/4
13 (Th) 10/6
15 (Th) 10/13
Fall, 2011
Ch7, p. 130-144 [Ch 7, p.126-141]
Ch8, p. 149-159 [Ch7, p.147-158]
Ch. 4, p. 111-130 [p. 111-129]
Monday a holiday!
Ch3, p. 91-104, Ch. 4 p. 131-135 [Ch3 p.
90-104; 129-134]
Ch. 4, p.135-139 [p. 135-137]
Ch 13, p. 430-432 [p. 421-424 ]; El Nino
Focus study p. 225-227 [p. 220-222]
Ch 8, p. 266-273 [p. 264-269]
Ch 8, p. 280-292 [p. 277-287]
Ch 16, p. 530-538 [p. 517-530]
ed.) , [Ch8., p. 158-170 see 3rd ed. for P/N
cycles]
LONG-TERM CLIMATE CHANGE
Long term climate and biodiversity (trip to
Botanical Gardens)
Life, biodiversity and ecosystems
Ch9, p. 176-188, [Ch9, p. 173-185]
Ch. 16, 525-530; 538-554 (ecosystems
and biomes) [p. 515-517, 530-541]
updated 8/23/11
17 (Th) 10/20
Week 10
Lab 8
18 (T) 10/25
19 (Th) 10/27
Week 11
Lab 9
20 (T) 11/1
21 (Th) 11/3
GEOG 40 Introduction to Earth System Science- Syllabus
Precambrian: first 4 billion years. In-class
assignment #3
PLEISTOCENE GLACIATIONS to the
HOLOCENE
Climate change: past and present
Climate and mass extinctions since the
Cambrian explosion
The Cryosphere and Pleistocene glaciations
Ch1, p. 13-19; Ch10; Ch11; Ch12
Ch 8, p. 266-268 [p. 264-266], Hoffman
(sections discussed in lecture) [Ch1 p. 10- and Schrag, "Snowball Earth" Scientific
15; Ch10; Ch11; Ch12 sections discussed in American, 68-75, January 2000
lecture]
Ch13, p. 255-270 [Ch13, p.252-268]
“The Great Extinctions” by E.O. Wilson, Ch.
3 The Diversity of Life
Ch6 [3rd edition only], Ch14, p. 272-290
[Ch 14, p. 270-287]
Ch14 p. 461-493 [p. 451-482]; Alley and
Bender, "Greenland Ice Cores: Frozen in
Time", Scientific American, 80-85, Feb
1998.
NATURAL CLIMATE VARIABILITY
Pleistocene glaciations
Climate change in human times; The history of Ch15, p. 295-302 [Ch 15, p 289-308]
the Earth ('field trip')
end of 'climates of yesteryear'
PART III: MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
Ch15, p. 303-313 [Ch16, p. 317-326]; The
The discovery of global warming
MODERN CLIMATE CHANGE
Carbon Cycle
Modern climate change and human's imprint
on climate (An Inconvenient Truth, part I)
23 (Th) 11/10
Climate change contrarians and the politics of IPCC 2007 summary for policymakers
(PDF on bspace)
global warming In-class assignment #4
24 (T) 11/15
Ch7, p. 250-258 [p. 246-256]
Ch15, p. 313-318 [Ch16, p. 326-334]
Hansen, J. "Defusing the global warming
time bomb", Scientific American, March
2004.
Ch 7, p 259 [p. 256-257]
STRATOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION
Modern climate change
25 (Th) 11/17
Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation (Global
Warming Swindle, part I)
Stratospheric ozone depletion I
Week 14
No lab
26 (T) 11/22
(Th) 11/24
STRATOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION
No lab this week
Stratospheric ozone depletion II
Thanksgiving holiday
Week 15
Lab 12
27 (T) 11/29
MODERN LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
Modern Environmental Problems
Human threats to biodiversity, In class
assignment #5
28 (Th) 12/1
Oceans biodiversity and fisheries (The Blue
Planet extra)
Week 16
No lab
29 (T) 12/6
30 (Th) 12/8
RRR week
No labs this week
Professor course review (tentative)
GSI study session
(T) 12/13
Alley, "Abrupt Climate Change", Scientific
American, 62-69, Nov, 2004.
Discovery of Global Warming book or
website
Week 12
Lab 10
22 (T) 11/8
Week 13
Lab 11
Fall, 2011
FINAL EXAM WEEK
3-6 P.M. (Exam Group 7)
Ch16, p. 321-338 [Ch16, p. 334-340]
Ch17 p. 340-358 [Ch 17, p. 343-360]
Ch2 Focus Study 2.1 p. 59-62 [p. 57-60]
WMO2006 summary for policymakers
Ch18 p. 361-376 [Ch18, p. 362-377]; IUCN Ch16, p. 555, 560-564; [p. 541-542; 547redlist
550] Costanza et al (1997), Myers et al
(2000), Pimm N&V on Costanza paper
Worm et al., (2006), Science 314, p. 787- Ch17, p. 578-584 [p. 563-574]; Jenkins
790
(2003), Pauly et al (2003)