GEOG119

Description

The Arctic is currently experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on Earth. The most profound environmental changes that will occur in your lifetime are undoubtedly those resulting from climate warming in the Arctic: loss of Arctic sea ice, melting of glaciers/ice caps/ice sheets, thawing of carbon-rich permafrost, extinction of species, among numerous other impacts. However, what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic - these changes have far-reaching implications across the planet. For instance, loss of arctic snow and ice exacerbates global climate warming, thawing of arctic permafrost carbon contributes vast quantities of greenhouse gases to the global atmosphere, and the melting of land ice in the Arctic is the largest contributor to expected global sea level rise over the next century. Furthermore, climate warming in the Arctic has significant implications for native communities and subsistence hunting activities, fisheries, oil and gas exploration, and shipping routes. This course focuses on understanding the Arctic as a system, including land-atmosphere-ocean-ice-human interactions. Topics include arctic hydrology, climatology, biogeochemical cycling, permafrost, glacier/ice sheet dynamics, terrestrial and marine ecology, sea ice, physical oceanography, and human-environment interactions.