Paleoclimatology Syllabus Course Geology 606: Paleoclimatology 3:00-4:15, T Th C310 ESC

Instructor Summer Rupper S317 ESC [email protected] Office hours: Monday, 3-5

TA Adam McKean C371 ESC Office hours: ????

Blackboard Homework assignments, reading materials, reminders/updates, and grades will be available online.

There is also a communications page within blackboard where students can communicate with me or each other. Feel free to post things, ask questions of me or classmates, reference articles that may be of interest to the group, etc.

Description This course examines the dramatic changes in global climate resulting from variations in solar insolation, changes in ocean circulation, plate tectonics and volcanic activity, the evolution of vascular plants, and the burning of fossil fuels. Lecture topics will cover periods in earth’s history that serve as examples of the differing space- and time-scales over which these climate variations operate. The interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, and land components of the earth’s climate system will be stressed in lectures, readings, and homeworks.

Course Objectives Students should be able to discuss and evaluate these concepts after completing the course: - Climate varies on all time and space scales - The processes influencing climate change depend on the timescale of interest - Data, theory, and numerical modeling are all essential to our understanding of Earth’s climate - Homeworks, in-class discussions and activities, and lectures are designed to provide students the opportunity to increase their ability to: - Critically evaluate primary literature - Write short papers synthesizing and evaluating scientific data, methods, and theories - Apply self evaluation and goal setting techniques to improve understanding of course content and participation in class discussions Lecture Topics -Intro to the climate system components of the earth’s climate system -Surface energy balance variations in energy at the earth’s surface, the processes that control that energy exchange, and the role of greenhouse gases -General circulation of the atmosphere (and ocean) dynamic movement of energy, momentum, and mass in the earth’s atmosphere, with emphasis on how that motion is linked to temporal and spatial changes in the energy balance, concepts of climate feedbacks and forcings -Snowball earth faint young sun paradox, weathering feedback on CO2, runaway feedbacks, evolution of life and related influences on climate, geologic evidence for climate change -Cretaceous hothouse atmospheric CO2 levels and climate, plate tectonics and climate, sea level changes, ocean acidification analog -Cenozoic climate Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: an analog to future global warming scenarios, tectonic uplift, ocean circulation changes, methane hydrates, sedimentary δ18O record of temperature -Pleistocene glaciations orbital controls on ice sheets; holes in Milankovitch theory; estimates of ice sheet volume; sea level change; albedo and CO2 feedbacks; theories for changes in carbon cycling; oxygen and carbon isotopes in sediment cores; oxygen isotopes, dust, and greenhouse gas records in ice cores -Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene precipitation and temperature changes, sea level and ice sheets, Younger Dryas, Little Ice Age, Medieval Warm Periods, rapid climate change -Human induced climate change – present and future anthropogenic production of greenhouse gases, radiation budget perturbations, aerosols, carbon burial, ocean acidification, projected CO2 increases, predicted temperature and precipitation changes, impacts on sea level and ocean circulation

Textbook Earth’s Climate: Past and Future by Bill Ruddiman

Other Books: Paleoclimatology by Crowley and North Atmospheric Science: an Introductory Survey by Wallace and Hobbs Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary by Ray Bradley Global Physical Climatology by Dennis Hartmann

Grading Proxy Presentation 10% Readings and Discussions 15% Paper Reviews 25% Problem Sets 25% Final Exam 25%

Proxy Presentations Each student will present a 15 minute lecture on 1-2 paleoclimate proxies and provide a summary/study guide for their classmates on those proxies. The proxies are to include ocean and lake sediment cores, polar ice cores, tree rings, and speleothems.

Readings and Discussions 4-5 classes will be dedicated to discussing assigned readings from the primary literature. Students will take turns leading the in class discussion of the journal articles. All students will be graded on their preparedness and participation during these discussions (see “Readings and Discussion Rubric”).

Paper Reviews One week following the discussion of the assigned readings, students will submit a 3-5 page, single-spaced paper summarizing the assigned articles (see “Discussion Paper Assignment” and “Discussion Paper Rubric”). Both the discussions and writing exercises are critical steps towards improving your ability to understand and critically evaluate scientific literature, and to communicate that knowledge in oral and written form.

Problem Sets 5-6 problem sets will be assigned during the semester. These will be largely quantitative in nature and will require several hours to complete. I encourage you to work with your peers, TA, and myself during these problem sets, but your must turn in your own work.

In addition to the homework assignments, there will be 3 numerical modeling projects. These projects will include computer lab tutorials scheduled during class time. These projects will also require several hours outside of class time to complete.

Final Exam There will a comprehensive final exam at the end of the course. The exam will include short answer and essay questions, as well as several quantitative problems. The questions that will appear on the exam will be given out two weeks prior to the exam for you to study and prepare.