WHAT'S NEW IN EARTH, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND

NEW IN EARTH, ENV, CLIM S

This course provides an overview of current research at the world-renowned Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Various Lamont researchers will present their latest research in earth, environmental, and climate science, providing students a cross-section of research projects across the LDEO divisions. Students are expected to attend each class, and meaningfully participate in class discussion.

• R 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Terry A Plank
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia Info
• 1 points

GEOLO EXCUR TO DEATH VALLEY,CA

The trip is restricted to first-years and sophomores from Columbia College/General Studies, Barnard College, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Early application is advised, please visit the course website below for the application deadline. A spring-break excursion focused on the geology of Death Valley and adjacent areas of the eastern California desert. Discussion sessions ahead of the trip provide necessary background. Details at: 
https://eesc.columbia.edu/content/eesc-un1010
.

• F 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Instructor: Folarin Kolawole
  Info
• 2 points

EARTH'S ENVIRO SYST: CLIM SYST

Prerequisites: high school algebra. Recommended preparation: high school chemistry and physics; and one semester of college science. Origin and development of the atmosphere and oceans, formation of winds, storms and ocean currents, reasons for changes through geologic time. Recent influence of human activity: the ozone hole, global warming, water pollution. Laboratory exploration of topics through demonstrations, experimentation, computer data analysis, and modeling. Students majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences should plan to take EESC W2100 before their senior year to avoid conflicts with Senior Seminar.

• T 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• 4.5 points

EARTH'S ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS: THE SOLID

EARTH'S ENV SYSTEM:SOLID

Recommended preparation: high school chemistry and physics; and one semester of college science. Exploration of how the solid Earth works, today and in the past, focusing on Earth in the Solar system, continents and oceans, the Earth's history, mountain systems on land and sea, minerals and rocks, weathering and erosion, glaciers and ice sheets, the hydrological cycle and rivers, geochronology, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, energy resources. Laboratory exploration of topics through examination of rock samples, experimentation, computer data analysis, field exercises, and modeling. Columbia and Barnard majors should plan to take W2200 before their senior year to avoid conflicts with the Senior Seminar.

• T 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• R 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• 4.5 points

EARTH'S ENVIRO SYST: LIFE SYST

Prerequisites: high school algebra. Recommended preparation: high school chemistry and physics.

 Role of life in biogeochemical cycles, relationship of biodiversity and evolution to the physical Earth, vulnerability of ecosystems to environmental change; causes and effects of extinctions through geologic time (dinosaurs and mammoths) and today. Exploration of topics through laboratories, data analysis, and modeling. REQUIRED LAB: EESC UN2310. Students will be expected to choose a lab section during the first week of class from the options listed in the Directory of Classes. Co-meets with EEEB 2002

• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• 4.5 points

EARTH ENVIR SYST-LIFE SYST-LAB

This three hour lab is required of all students who enroll in EESC UN2300. There are currently five lab sections.

• W 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• 0 points

EARTH ENVIR SYST-LIFE SYST-LAB

This three hour lab is required of all students who enroll in EESC UN2300. There are currently five lab sections.

• W 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• 0 points

EARTH ENVIR SYST-LIFE SYST-LAB

This three hour lab is required of all students who enroll in EESC UN2300. There are currently five lab sections.

• W 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• R 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• 0 points

EARTH ENVIR SYST-LIFE SYST-LAB

This three hour lab is required of all students who enroll in EESC UN2300. There are currently five lab sections.

• R 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• 0 points

FIELD GEOLOGY

ITALY

This is a field geology course focusing on the Apennine Mountains of central Italy, where a developing “accretionary prism” (associated with oceanic crust subduction) can be observed directly. Students will learn how to interpret the evolution of paleo-environments from the sediment lithologies, textures, fossils, compositions; and the tectonic history from the present day spatial and structural relationships. The rocks range from early Mesozoic oceanic crust and sediments to late Cenozoic sediments impacted by the rise of the Alps. The course visits several classic geological localities, including the Gubbio site of the discovery that the dinosaur extinction was caused by a meteorite, a Carrara Marble quarry (favored by Michelangelo for his sculptures), evaporite sediments from the dry-down of the Mediterranean, the magnificent Frasassi Cave, and effects of recent earthquakes.

Priority: This course has a limited number of spaces, and enrollment requires the instructors' permission. Students interested in enrolling are instructed to contact the instructors by email. Priority is given to Columbia College and General Studies senior and junior majors and minors in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Barnard senior and junior majors and minors in Environmental Science. Barnard students must receive permission from the Barnard Environmental Science department chair in order to receive the subsidy.

• T 7:30 p.m.-9:20 p.m.
• 3 points

CLIMATE PHYSICS

Climate Physics

This is a calculus-based treatment of climate system physics and the mechanisms of anthropogenic climate change. By the end of this course, students will understand: how solar radiation and rotating fluid dynamics determine the basic climate state, mechanisms of natural variability and change in climate, why anthropogenic climate change is occurring, and which scientific uncertainties are most important to estimates of 21st century change.

This course is designed for undergraduate students seeking a quantitative introduction to climate and climate change science. EESC V2100 (Climate Systems) is not a prerequisite, but can also be taken for credit if it is taken before this course.

• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Adam H Sobel
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

SOLID EARTH DYNAMICS

Prerequisites: any 1000-level or 2000-level EESC course; MATH UN1101 Calculus I and PHYS UN1201 General Physics I or their equivalents. Concurrent enrollment in PHYS UN1201 is acceptable with the instructors permission. Properties and processes affecting the evolution and behavior of the solid Earth. This course will focus on the geophysical processes that build mountains and ocean basins, drive plate tectonics, and otherwise lead to a dynamic planet. Topics include heat flow and mantle circulation, earthquakes and seismic waves, gravity, Earths magnetic field, and flow of glaciers and ice sheets.

• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Meredith Nettles
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 31 Info
• 3 points

Glacial Geomorphology

This course focuses on the impact of glaciers on landscapes. We will learn about the interactions and feedbacks between landscapes and climate. We will cover what is known about glacial geomorphology, as well as the modern research methods and outstanding scientific problems.

• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: William H Menke
  CULPA: 14 Info
• 3 points

SENIOR SEMINAR

Guided, independent, in-depth research culminating in the senior thesis in the spring. Includes discussion about scientific presentations and posters, data analysis, library research methods and scientific writing. Students review work in progress and share results through oral reports. Weekly seminar to review work in progress and share results through oral and written reports.

• R 4:10 p.m.-7 p.m.
• 3 points

CHEMICAL GEOLOGY

This course will examine geological problems from a standpoint of thermodynamic and kinetic theory. Theoretical thermodynamic concepts will be used to derive the crystallization depth and temperature of metamorphic and magmatic minerals, describe the solubility of volatile species in magmas, predict the composition of volcanic gas mixtures, model the nucleation and growth of crystals and bubbles in a melt and determine the chemical interaction between water and rock at the Earth’s surface. Kinetic treatments on the diffusion of heat and matter through crystals and melts will be used to constrain the timing of geological processes. Recommended preparation: Knowledge of mathematics at the level of partial differential equations; mineralogy (EESC 4113); and petrology (EESC 4701); or permission of the instructor.

• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Yves Moussallam
  h-index: 18 Info
• 3 points

CLIM THERMODYN/ENERGY TRANSFER

Thermodynamics of atmospheric and oceanic processes fundamental to the climate system. Physical mechanisms of vertical energy transfer: surface fluxes, boundary layers and convection.

• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Adam H Sobel
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

GEODYNAMICS

An introduction to how the Earth and planets work. The focus is on physical processes that control plate tectonics and the evolution of planetary interiors and surfaces; analytical descriptions of these processes; weekly physical model demonstrations.

• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: W R Buck
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 43 Info
• 3 points

GEOPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS

Prerequisites: APMA E3101, APMA E3201 or equivalents and APPH E4200 or equivalent or the instructors permission. Fundamental concepts in the dynamics of rotating stratified flows. Geostrophic and hydrostatic balances, potential vorticity, f and beta plane approximations, gravity and Rossby waves, geostrophic adjustment and quasigeostrophy, baroclinic and barotropic instabilities.

• TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Dhruv Balwada
  Info
• 3 points

CLIMATE PREDICTION CHALLENGES WITH MACHI

CLIMAT PRED W MACHINE LEA

This course is a project-based learning (PBL) course where teams of climate science and data science students collaborate to create machine learning predictive models for challenges inspired by ongoing climate data science research. Students from different background will apply their prior knowledge, work together and teach each other in high-paced collaborative projects. Through a sequence of mini-projects, i.e., “challenges”, this course provides students a deeper understanding of using machine learning for climate science and support predictive capabilities. It provides training on a broad set of practical skills for climate data science research (e.g., handling geoscience data formats, data curation, cleaning and transformation, building ML workflow, and collaboration using cloud computing resources, Git and/or GitHub). It will also offer discussions on the opportunities and challenges of using climate science and projections in decision processes.

Minimal formal instruction on statistics, data science, machine learning, or climate science will be given. Project cycles run every 4 weeks, where we will have mini-group data projects. Groups will be formed randomly with students from both climate science and data science background. Project products will be peer-reviewed, in addition to evaluation by the instructional team.

• T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Galen A McKinley
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia h-index: 32 Info
• 3 points

AIR-SEA INTERACTION

Prerequisites: solid background in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Some background in fluid mechanics (as in EESC W4925/APPH E4200) or the instructors permission. An overview of oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers including fluxes of momentum, heat, mass, (eg. moisture salt) and gases between the ocean and atmosphere; vertical distribution of energy sources and sinks at the interface including the importance of surface currents; forced upper ocean dynamics, the role of surface waves on the air-sea exchange processes and ocean mixed layer processes.

• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Christopher J Zappa
  h-index: 31 Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY

Prerequisites: Physics W1201, Chemistry W1403, Calculus III, or equivalent or the instructors permission. EESC W2100 preferred. Physical and chemical processes determining atmospheric composition and the implications for climate and regional air pollution. Basics of physical chemistry relevant to the atmosphere: spectroscopy, photolysis, and reaction kinetics. Atmospheric transport of trace gas species. Atmosphere-surface-biosphere interactions. Stratospheric ozone chemistry. Tropospheric hydrocarbon chemistry and oxidizing power. Legacy effects of photochemical smog and acid rain. Current impacts of aerosol pollution and climate impacts of pollution reduction.

• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Roisin Commane
  h-index: 25 Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: one year of chemistry. The course covers:  Factors controlling the concentration and distribution of dissolved chemical species within the sea; the physical chemistry of seawater; ocean circulation and biogeochemical processes that interact with each other to influence the distribution and fate of elements in the ocean. The course examines in some detail the two-way interaction between marine ecosystems and their chemical environment, and the implications of these interactions for distributions in the ocean of carbon, nutrients and trace metals. Although this course does not cover specific strategies that have been proposed for marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR) and ocean storage of carbon, it will cover the basic processes and principles underlying ocean mCDR strategies.

• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Robert Anderson
  h-index: 77 Info
• 3 points

CENOZOIC PALEOCEANOGRAPHY

Prerequisites: college-level geology helpful but not required. Introduces the physical, chemical and biological processes that govern how and where ocean sediments accumulate. Major topics addressed are: modes of biogenic, terrigenous and authigenic sedimentation, depositional environments, pore fluids and sediment geochemistry, diagenesis, as well as biostratigraphy and sediment stratigraphic principles and methods. Second half of the semester focuses on major events in Cenozoic paleoceanogrpahy and paleoclimatology including orbital control of climate, long-term carbon cycle, extreme climate regimes, causes of ice ages in Earths history, human evolution, El Niño evolution, and long-term sea level history.

• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• 3 points

EARTH SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM

Current topics in the Earth sciences.

• F 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
• Instructor: Kaleigh B Matthews
  Info
• 1 points

MASTERS RESEARCH

Individual research in the students field of specialization at the masters level. DEES PhD students register for this in the semester in which thay take their Masters Exam.

• Instructor: Kaleigh B Matthews
  Info
• 4 points

COMMUNICATING EARTH & ENVIR SCI

Communicating science well in the context of the earth and environmental sciences is critical. This science communication course will transect specific earth and environmental science disciplines to provide a foundational understanding of what it means to communicate science and how to do so effectively. Within this overarching theme of science communication, students will gain a comprehensive and holistic understanding of how to communicate earth and environmental science across a variety of formats and to a diversity of audiences. Practical outcomes include but are not limited to students learning 1) how to rationalize a research topic, 2) write a hypothesis driven proposal, 3) evaluate proposals, 4) produce clear and compelling graphics, 5) adopt the latest pedagogical approaches, and 6) present science findings to a diversity of audiences.

• MW 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Sonya Dyhrman
  Wikipedia h-index: 47 Info
• 3 points

DYNAMICS OF CLIMATE

Prerequisites: EESC GU4008, and advanced calculus, or the instructors permission. The current climate and its variations over Earth history are interpreted as consequences of fundamental physical processes, including radiative transfer, the atmosphere and ocean circulation, and the carbon cycle. Perturbations to climate, resulting from changing atmospheric composition or insolation, are examined using a combination of simple interpretative models and full Earth System Models.

• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Ronald L Miller
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED SEISMOLOGY I

Seismic waves in layered media, matrix methods, free vibrations of the Earth, dislocation theory, source mechanics.

• W 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
• Instructor: Goran Ekstrom
  CULPA: 10 h-index: 76 Info
• 3 points

SEMINAR IN ADVANCED PETROLOGY

Volcanoes and Climate

In this seminar, we will explore the interactions between volcanism and climate. From week to week, we will discuss research related to the volcano-climate interactions and address questions such as: How do volcanoes affect global climate? How do we reconstruct the climate impact of past volcanic events? How and why are mass extinction events related to supervolcano and flood basalt eruptions? Can long term changes in climate affect volcanism?

The course welcomes participation from students with diverse academic backgrounds, reflecting the inherently interdisciplinary nature of the topic, which spans volcanology, atmospheric science, paleoclimatology, geophysics, and more.

The seminar will also be open to the broader Lamont community, welcoming drop-ins from all staff, postdocs and students.

• M 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
• Instructor: Terry A Plank
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia Info
• 1-2 points

RACE, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND ENVIRONMENTAL

RACE, CLIMATE, ENV JUSTIC

Climate change and environmental catastrophes are on the rise, and it has been well- documented by now that those facing the heaviest impacts have largely been communities of color and / or working class. Many of these communities are also survivors of colonialism’s deeper ongoing legacies of dispossession as well as of capitalist extraction projects; yet these same communities have long had much to teach on how to be in better relations with our planet and each other. The purpose of this seminar is to train students in how to ask critical questions when it comes to the production of knowledge or when doing science.

“Community-based research” and “co-production” are increasingly popular frameworks and methods that often struggle to address the power differentials between researchers in powerful institutions and the dispossessed communities in which they work. As such, we will interrogate these concepts while simultaneously learning from several examples of decolonial research methods.

We begin by examining the colonial foundations of the sciences, with a special focus on the geo- and climate sciences. The ideological underpinnings of these sciences assume the earth to be an inert object ripe for exploitation; this legacy of European modernity is often at odds with the worldviews of indigenous peoples and their relations with nature. We then explore several anti-colonial and critical science scholars’ works and ask: what would it mean to revisit the foundations of our disciplines with a decolonial lens? How do we know (study) and relate to a place in a non-extractive and mutually respectful way that centers local communities and indigenous knowledge and practices? We will explore this through several examples, including an in-depth dive into this seminar’s ongoing collaborative community project with The Black School, a New Orleans based community organization facing lead contamination on their land within the context of a long legacy of environmental racism.

Students taking the seminar for 3 credits and who aim to decolonize their own research will be trained in ethnographic methods by developing an anthropological lens - first through a self-ethnography workshop that focuses on the positionality and then through their own mini-ethnography projects.

• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Hadeel K Assali
  Info
• 1-3 points