SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS. Earth s Weather and Climate EVSC 1300

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1 1 COURSE DESCRIPTION SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS Earth s Weather and Climate EVSC 1300 Our voyage takes us through a variety of climatic zones giving us the opportunity to observe the atmosphere in action from tropical rains to desert. We will examine the physical processes that determine weather and look extensively at how climates have changed in the past and are changing today. Understanding how the atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces interact is critical to understanding weather and climate. Many of the critical issues facing people revolve around weather and climate. We will look how the climate system works, how the oceans and atmosphere interact, how people and natural events impact climate, and what we can expect in the future. We ll start with the observations we can make from the deck of the ship and the ship s weather reports. Can we predict what the weather will be this afternoon or tomorrow? We ll expand to talk about the origin of winds, storms, and seasons. We ll look at the wind patterns that dominate regions of the world. What is the source of energy that drives weather? How do the incoming and outgoing energies balance? How does energy move between oceans, atmosphere, and land? How do the vast Polar Regions impact the weather system? Is climate changing? What is the evidence? What causes climate to change and what role do people have in making that change? Can the change be reversed? COURSE OBJECTIVES To engage students in thinking and learning about the climate through first-hand observations during the Semester at Sea experience and through reading, study, and discussion. Students will hone their observation skills and deductive abilities to understand the atmosphere and will rely on readings and in-class discussion to refine their understanding. Students will develop an appreciation for the complexities of weather and climate dynamics. They will understand the general atmospheric circulation and ocean circulation, storm generation, global energy balances, and carbon balance. They will understand the data and analysis supporting climate change and the arguments for and against human impact on climate change. TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE:

2 2 Sea Day# Topic Reading 1 Forecasts at sea. Structure of the atmosphere Chapter 1 2 Weather forecasting from charts. Defining climate. Climate of Chapter 15 Italy. Civitavecchia 3 Solar radiation and seasons. Where are we? Ozone. Chapter 2 4 Climate of Turkey. Earth null school. Solar radiation and heat Chapter 3 budget. Istanbul 5 Atmospheric pressure and wind. Climate of Greece. Chapter 4 Pireaus 6 Moisture in the atmosphere. Chapter 5 7 Cloud formation. Weird clouds. Climate Spain. Chapter 6 Barcelona 8 Precipitation. Climate of Morocco. Chapter 7 Casa Blanca 9 Atmospheric circulation. Cape Bojador. See breezes. Chapter 8 10 Air masses. Canary and Verde Islands. Climate Senegal. Chapter 9 Dakar 11 Tropical storms. Chapter Mid-term 13 Mid latitude storms. Climate Brazil. Chapter 10 Salvador 14 Inversions and air pollution Chapter Lightning Chapter Thunderstorms. Numerical weather prediction. Chapter Water spouts and tornadoes. Perfect climate. Trinidad climate Port Spain 18 Jet streams. Why the weird weather. Climate Caribbean. 19 Panama Canal. Climate of Panama. 20 Climate of Costa Rica. El Nino. Puntarenas 21 Climate change. Hurricane Dolores. Chapter Atmospheric optics. What s that? Chapter Group presentations. 24 Final exam Text content by chapters: Understand Weather and Climate. Edward Aguado and James Burt

3 3 FIELD COMPONENT: Port Athens Activity Visit the national Greek weather service. We will see how this national organization makes predictions of weather on a daily bases and what they are doing in climate research. FIELD COMPONENT: Participation required, constitutes 20% of final grade. This field lab will take place on the first day in Greece. We will visit the central office of the Hellenic Meteorological Station to see how they make forecasts and discuss how forecasting differs here from other locations. (Dr Tina Mita, Acting Head of Section of International Relations and Organizations, Hellenic National Meteorological Service, info@hnms.gr) We will then visit a weather station to see the instruments used to collect data on the atmosphere.. EVALUTATION OF FIELD COMPONENT. Students will write a one-page report on what they learned (not what they saw) during the field component. METHODS OF EVALUATION: To ensure continuous engagement and to launch class discussion, quizzes are given daily. A mid-term and final exam will be given. Students will participate in a field lab and will write a report on that experience. Students will work in small teams to create and turn in for review a log of their observations and analysis. Each team will pick one topic for study in each region visited on this voyage. Students are highly encouraged to use Google Earth as a framework for this log and to have this application installed on their personal computers. They will pick one or more topics and study these in each port and major sea we enter. For example, students could pick how weather and climate impact architecture in each national we visit. Students who won t have a computer on board can use one of the computers available in the compute laboratory. Log of observartions and analysis 30% Field laboratory 20% Quizzes 20% Mid-term exam 15% Final exam 15%

4 REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS 4 Understanding Weather & Climate, sixth edition. Edward Aguado and James Burt Prentice Hall RESERVE LIBRARY LIST Earth s Changing Climate The Great Courses. Richard Wolfson. The Teaching Company (2 DVDs) The Great Warmth. Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. Brian Fagan. Bloomsbury Press Cool it. The skeptical environmentalist s Guide to Global Warming. Bjorn Lomborg. Alfred Knopf

5 Other resources required 5 At least one computer in the computer laboratory with Google Earth installed