ENV 3170 Global Climate Change

This course examines the nature, causes and extent of climate change through geological time, with a particular emphasis on how natural and human environments have responded to such change over the last several hundred thousand years. It focuses on the methods used to obtain proxy climate histories and the sources of these climate records, including ice cores, corals, tree rings, cave deposits, pollen,and coastal, desert amd fluvial landforms and sediments. The techniques used to determine the age of these deposits are also covered. The course will also include a review of the global climate system with particular emphasis on the role of humans in forcing global climate change. Prerequisite(s): ENV 1100 or ENV 1150 or ENV 2500.
Credits: 4.0