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| SPAT0027-3 | Climate change and impacts
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| Duration : | 15h Th, 45h Pr |
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| Number of credits : |
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| Lecturer : | Louis François, Guy Munhoven |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| French language |
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Course contents :
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| This course provides a synthesis of ongoing and future climate change and of its impacts on the environment and human societies. It is mostly based upon the IPCC report, which is available from the world-wide web. The following themes are covered:
1. Overview of the climate system;
2. Greenhouse effect and radiative forcing;
3. Carbon cycle and greenhouse gas balances;
4. Climate change during the 20th century: data analysis and models;
5. Past climate changes: methods of reconstruction and synthesis of observations (last millennium, Holocene, Pleistocene)
6. Future climate change: SRES socio-econimic scenarios and IPCC climate projections
7. Climate change impacts (sea-level, hydrology, terrestrial and marine ecosystems, human societies).
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| This course provides an introduction to the problematics of global climate change. |
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| Basic knowledge about how of physical, chemical and biological processes control Earth's evolution. |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| By way of tutorials, bibliographic homeworks dealing with subjects related to various themes covered during the lectures will be proposed to students. Each student may chose a subject he/she is interested in. This way, they have the chance to improve on the basics covered by the main lectures. They are expected to produce a written text of 10 to 15 pages and to make a short oral presentation for the class or for secondary school students. |
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| The course is organised during the first semester along three modules :
- theory (15 h)
- bibliographic homeworks (40h)
- oral presentation of bibliographic homeworks and debates (5 h)
Schedule 2011-2012: Wednesday morning 9h00-13h00; 1st lecture 21/9/2011, Room 1.19, Building B5b |
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Recommended or required readings :
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| Online IPCC publications ( http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/index.htm):
- IPCC Third Assessment Report - Climate Change 2001
- Various Special Reports ...
Fourth IPCC Assessment Report (Climate Change 2007):
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| An oral examination is organised on the theoretical module.
The bibibliographic homework (written text and oral presentation) is also evaluated.
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Contacts :
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| Louis François, Lecturer,
Unit for Climate and Biogeochemical Cycles Modelling (UMCCB),
Institute of Astrophysics et and Geophysics (B5c build.),
Phone: (+32) (4) 366-9776
e-mail: Louis.Francois@ulg.ac.be
Guy Munhoven, Research Associate F.R.S-FNRS,
Laboratory of Planetary and Atmospheric Physics,
Institute of Astrophysics et and Geophysics (B5c build.),
Phone: (+32) (4) 366-9771
e-mail: Guy.Munhoven@ulg.ac.be
Web: http://www.astro.ulg.ac.be/~munhoven |
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