Search: Course, Natural Sciences

Introduction to marine geochemistry: the global water cycle; major processes governing the distribution of chemical species within the hydrosphere; mass balances, fluxes, and reactions in the marine environment from global to submicron scales; relationships to physical, biological, and geological processes; geochemical tracers and tools.

Quantitative methods for energy and resource analysis. Topics include linear algebra, differential equations, statistical methods, chemical equilibrium theory, and thermodynamics

Modeling methods in ecology and meteorology; stability analysis; effects of anthropogenic stress on natural systems.

This course will review the background mathematical and statistical tools necessary for students interested in pursuing ecological and environmental modeling. Topics include linear algebra; difference equation, ordinary differential equation, and partial differential equation models; stochastic processes; parameter estimation; and a number of statistical techniques. This course will be recommended as a prerequisite for advanced modeling courses in Integrative Biology, Energy and Resources Group, and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.

Interrelationships between marine organisms and physical, chemical and geological processes in oceans.

Fluid dynamics, radiative transfer, and the kinetics, spectroscopy, and measurement of atmospherically relevant species are explored through laboratory experiments, numerical simulations, and field observations. The course is intended for Earth and Planetary Science majors and minors, and for chemistry, physics, astronomy, biology, and engineering majors whose interests may lie in science applied to the atmosphere of Earth and other planets

This course examines the processes that determine the structure and circulation of the Earth's atmosphere. The approach is deductive rather than descriptive: to figure out the properties and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere based on the laws of physics and fluid dynamics. Topics will include interaction between radiation and atmospheric composition; the role of water in the energy and radiation balance; governing equations for atmospheric motion, mass conservation, and thermodynamic energy balance; geostrophic flow, quasigeostrophic motion, baroclinic instability and dynamics of extratropical cyclones

The theory and practice of geophysical methods for determining the subsurface distribution of physical rock and soil properties. Measurements of gravity and magnetic fields, electrical and electromagnetic fields, and seismic velocity are interpreted to map the subsurface distribution of density, magnetic susceptibility, electrical conductivity, and mechanical properties

Analysis and discussion of three research problems on the interactions of solid earth, hydrologic, chemical, and atmospheric processes. Emphasis is on the synthesis and application of the student's disciplinary knowledge to a new integrative problem in the earth sciences.

Chemical reactions in geological processes. Thermodynamic methods for predicting chemical equilibria in nature. Isotopic and chemical tracers of transport processes in the earth. Chemistry of the solid earth, oceans, and atmosphere