The Earth System

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Conduct research on environmental change using appropriate techniques, in a responsible and safe manner;
• Understand the terminology, nomenclature and classification systems commonly used in the study of environmental change
• Pursue knowledge in an in-depth, ordered and motivated way;
• Understand the nature of change in bio-physical environments and the evidence for it;
• Assess the merits of contrasting theories and explanations of environmental change;
• Be aware of the role and importance of evidence-based research
• Abstract and synthesise environmental change information from a range of different sources
• Marshal and retrieve data from library and internet resources;
• Critically analyse literature in physical geography and environmental change;
• Understand the relationships between physical and human agencies of environmental change;
• Plan and carry out an exacting piece of research on environmental change and produce a report to a high standard;
• Understand the past, present and future variability of changes in the global environment
• Structure conceptual and empirical material pertaining to environmental change into a reasoned argument
• Collect, analyse and understand data on environmental change using field, laboratory and computer techniques

There is now unprecedented popular and media interest in environmental change but the scientific underpinning of this interest is often sadly lacking. This unit examines how major climatic changes have affected the Earth and its people on a variety of time and spatial scales. The lectures firstly outline the key processes that underpin the Earth system, including atmospheric circulation, Earth’s energy balance, soil processes and ecosystem functioning. In subsequent lecturers we explore changes in Earth system processes over geological timescales. We cover the climatic changes of the Quaternary ice age (last 2.6 million years) and the last 10,000 years - the Holocene - dealing with proxy records of environmental change, how they are dated and assessed and the consequences of climatic change on the biosphere. We also explore the driving mechanisms that underpin long-term climate change, including orbital causes of climatic variation, before discussing the interactions of the climate system with ice sheets, the wider terrestrial hydrological cycle and oceans

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, practical sessions, and may include seminar debate-style sessions.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Holden, J (2012). An introduction to Physical Geography and the Environment. Pearson, Harlow.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External