ENVI 215
Climate Changes Spring 2018
Division III
Cross-listed ENVI 215 / GEOS 215 / GEOS 215 / ENVI 215
This is not the current course catalog

In recent years, there has been a growing public and scientific interest in the Earth’s climate and its variability. This interest reflects both concern over future climate changes resulting from anthropogenic increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases and growing recognition of the economic impact of “natural” climate variability (for example, El Niño events), especially in the developing world. Efforts to understand the Earth’s climate system and predict future climate changes require both study of parameters controlling present day climate and detailed studies of climate changes in the past. In this course, we will review the processes that control the Earth’s climate, like solar radiation, the greenhouse effect, ocean circulation, configuration of continents, and positive and negative feedbacks. At the same time, we will review the geological record of climate changes in the past, examining their causes. Laboratories and problem sets will emphasize developing problem solving skills as well as sampling and interpreting geological archives of climate change.