Introduction to the basic science and state of predictability of various natural catastrophic events including hurricanes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, as well as possibly future climate catastrophes including severe droughts, abrupt climate change, thermohaline circulation collapse and sea level rise.
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Topics include fundamentals of cartography, creating/editing GIS data, linking spatial and tabular data, georeferencing, map projections, geospatial analysis, spatial statistics and the development of GIS models. Examples from hydrology, ecology, and geology.
Introduction to Earth materials and processes. Topics include rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, volcanoes, earthquakes, Earth surface processes, Earth resources, geologic time, and Earth history. Laboratory work involves hands-on study of geologic materials, maps, and exercises pertaining to geologic processes.
The composition and circulation of the atmosphere with a focus on explaining the fundamentals of weather and climate. Topics include solar and terrestrial radiation, clouds, and weather patterns.
