Climate change and impacts

Duration

15h Th, 45h Pr

Number of credits

Lecturer

Louis François, Guy Munhoven

Coordinator

Louis François

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

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: socio-econimic scenarios and IPCC climate projections 7. Climate change impacts (sea-level, hydrology, terrestrial and marine ecosystems, human societies).

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

This course provides an introduction to the problematics of global climate change.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Basic knowledge about how of physical, chemical and biological processes control Earth's evolution.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

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 3 to 4 pages and to make a short oral presentation for the class or for secondary school students.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

The course is organised during the first semester and the beginning of the second semester along three modules : - theory (20 h) - bibliographic homeworks (35 h) - oral presentation of bibliographic homeworks and debates (5 h)
Schedule 2020-2021: Tuesday afternoon 13h00-17h00 during the first semester (Sep 15 to Dec 15) + some lectures during the second semester). Room R24, building B6d (TP Chemistry). 

Organisational adjustments related to the current health context

As long as the teaching activities are organized according to the orange or red code procedures, the theoretical lectures are organized remotely, in principle by Lifesize video-conference, or on an alternative platform if necessary or useful. The supervision of the students for their personal project will be organized by videoconference (either for the whole group, similarly to the theoretical lectures, or as individual meetings) and by eMail.
The oral exam for the January session will be organized face-to-face whenever possible, otherwise by videoconference. > Online oral exam (update 10/12/2020)
The two half-days for the oral presentations of students' personal projects will take place on 1st and 15th March 2021. The actual practical organisation of the two half-days (in the presence of some public or remotely, by streaming or other means of dissemination) will be set for 15th February 2021 at the latest, when the health protocols for application at that time will be known.
Update March 2021: The two half-days for the oral presentations initially scheduled for 1st and 15th March 2021 had to be cancelled. They are replaced by pre-recorded video clips to be streamed on the private YouTube channel of Réjouisciences. The rehearsal and recording dates have been or will be fixed together with the students.

Recommended or required readings

Online IPCC publications:


Fifth IPCC Assessment Report (AR5, Climate Change 2014):

• Working Group I: The Physical Basis of Climate Change
• Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
• Working Group III: Mitigation of Climate Change

Assessment methods and criteria

Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.

An oral examination is organised on the theoretical module. The bibibliographic homework (written report and oral presentation) is also evaluated.
The notes are weighted as follows:
- oral examination (50%)
- bibliographic homework: written report (10%)
- bibliographic homework: oral presentation (40%)
It is mandatory for the students to attend the preparation sessions of the oral presentation. The written report will be delivered in February before the first preparation session. In case of absence to these sessions and/or of non delivery of the report, the student will not be admitted to this part of the examination. 

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Louis François, Professor, 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@uliege.be

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