Jason Box Lecturing
From Byrd Polar Research Center
Contents |
[edit] GEOG 210: Physical Geography and Environmental Issues
- Course Description and Goals - This course provides an introduction to physical geography using an environmental science perspective. We focus on environmental processes and their impacts on our daily lives, including social issues. From an objective standpoint, we investigate how interactions of physical and social factors define ‘environmental problems’. We aim for solutions and ultimately, sustainability.
- Textbook - Physical Geography: Environmental Issues, ISBN 0-470-03877-2 Wiley,
- History - Taught Autumn 2003, 2004, Winter 2006, 2007, 2008, planned for winter quarter 2010
- Course web page
[edit] GEOG 520: Climatology
- Course Description and Goals - This course is designed to provide an introduction to Climatology, the study of the average state of weather on planet earth. Emphasis of planetary energy budgets, regional climates, climate change, and past and future climates.
- Textbook - Oliver J.E. and J.J. Hidore, 2001: Climatology: An Atmospheric Science, 2nd Ed. Prentice Hall, 410 pp. ISBN: 0130922056
- History- Taught Autumn quarter 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
- Course web page
[edit] GEOG 622.01: Boundary Layer Meterologoy and Microclimatology
- Course Description and Goals - This course covers fundamentals of the energetic atmosphere-surface interactions, i.e. radiaiton fluxes, turbulent heat moisture and momentum fluxes, and subsurface conductive fluxes. The 'surface boundary layer' is the part of the atmosphere affected by energetic interactions of turbulence and radiation fluxes with the surface. Humans live in the surface boundary layer. Atmospheric pollutants are concentrated near the surface and diffuse into the atmosphere by turbulence regulated by daily and seasonal cycles of surface solar heating and depending further on surface properties. Large scale atmospheric motions are largely attributable to surface energy exchanges. Students will gain the conceptual framework necessary for an understanding of surface atmosphere interactions and their potential effects on weather development and human impacts.
- Textbook - Arya, S. P. S., 2001: Micrometeorology, Academic Press, 2nd Ed., 307 pp., ISBN 0-12-059354-8
- History - Taught Winter 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
- Course web page
[edit] GEOG 622.02: Microclimatological Field Methods and Data Analysis
- Course Description and Goals - This course is designed to apply knowledge gained in 622.01 (Boundary Layer Meteorology), and experience the ‘real-world’ of instrumented field observations. Development of useful data products from the original data is an important goal. Small-scale (micro) meteorological instrumentation, experimental design, electronics, computer-aided data analysis, and logistics techniques are taught from a practical and introductory perspective.
- Textbook - Arya, S. P. S., 2001: Micrometeorology, Academic Press, 2nd Ed., 307 pp., ISBN 0-12-059354-8
- History - Taught Autumn quarter 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
- Course web page
[edit] GEOG 820.01: Readings in Climatology
- Course Description and Goals - It is extremely valuable to keep pace with the continually output and increasing literature-base in ones discipline. In the climate and atmospheric sciences, there are exciting advancements continually unfolding, spanning the interdisciplinarian topics of: climate change and melting ice caps; severe weather; climate and health; air pollution; remote sensing results; physical processes and more. In this seminar we endeavor to keep abreast with a flood of information by collectively reviewing numerous journals of interest, e.g. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal of Climate, Journal of Geophysical Research, Climatic Change, Monthly Weather Review, Geophysical Research Letters, Science, Nature, etc. The format of the course is a 1-hour meeting twice per week. We will divide journals of interest among the group. Each week each person brings articles of interest to the attention of group and presents a brief synopsis of a single article, potentially including a critique. In addition, each week, a different participant makes a short presentation on their current work or on a topic of interest. One research report will be due at the end of the quarter on: a topic related to your interests; a thesis segment; or the foundation of an article to be published. This seminar will: broaden your perspective on the atmospheric sciences; refine your public speaking skills; and allow you to stay informed on the cutting edge in the climate and atmospheric sciences.
- History - Taught Winter quarter 2004
- Online Journals
[edit] GEOG 820.01: Paleoclimatology
(Team taught: J. Box, B. Mark, D. Porinchu)
- Course Description and Goals - Earth’s climate has fluctuated widely in the past, between droughts, ice ages, and climatic optima. Indeed, climatic change is a certainty. We are presently faced with the potential for abrupt climate change resulting from inadvertent human-induced environmental modification. Paleoclimatology, the study of the past climate and environments of the Earth, provides a long-term perspective on the nature of global climate variability that is critical for evaluating the sensitivity of the Earth system to past, present and future changes in forcing. This course will provide students with a overview of paleoclimatology by examining the use of proxy records such as marine and lake sediment sequences, ice cores, tree rings, corals and documentary data to reconstruct past climatic conditions. Dating methods will be introduced. Seminal publications in paleoclimatology will be reviewed in tandem with state of the art research papers addressing outstanding paleoclimate questions. Throughout, we critically analyze our current understanding of past climates and environments and identify promising directions for future research. Topics include: abrupt climate change, human evolution and climate, biosphere-climate interactions and paleoclimate modeling.
- History - Taught Winter 2005
- Reading List