1. General information
Course:
FUNDAMENTALS OF CLIMATIC CHANGE
Code:
37348
Type:
ELECTIVE
ECTS credits:
4.5
Degree:
340 - UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMME IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Academic year:
2022-23
Center:
501 - FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES AND BIOCHEMISTRY
Group(s):
40
Year:
4
Duration:
First semester
Main language:
Spanish
Second language:
English
Use of additional languages:
English Friendly:
Y
Web site:
Bilingual:
N
Lecturer:
MIGUEL ANGEL GAERTNER RUIZ VALDEPEÑAS
- Group(s):
40
Building/Office
Department
Phone number
Email
Office hours
Sabatini / 0.18
CIENCIAS AMBIENTALES
926051752
miguel.gaertner@uclm.es
Tuesday from 12 to 13h, Thursday from 11 to 13h and from 15 to 18h, through previous appointment by e-mail
2. Pre-Requisites
Not established
3. Justification in the curriculum, relation to other subjects and to the profession
Anthropogenic climate change is one of the main environmental threats for mankind. The main objective of this subject is to provide a good knowledge about the fundamentals of climate change science, giving illustrative examples of the main implications that climate change has and could have in the future. This forms the basis for mitigation strategies for consequences of future scenarios, as well as for adapting to such consequences. When a student studies this subject, it is intended firstly that he understands the complexity and magnitude of the problem, and then that he knows various mitigating actions offered by technology. For this reason, the learning process follows this sequence:
- Understanding the basic physical principles that determine global climate.
- Knowing the components of climate system and the complex interactions among them
- Studying climate variability at several timescales
- Analyzing the main causes of observed climate change
- Knowing the techniques of climated modelling and their uncertainties
- Knowing and interpreting current projections of anthropogenic climate change
- Studying the main impacts and consequences of anthropogenic climate change
- Knowing and analyzing strategies for mitigating anthropogenic climate change and adapting to its consequences
Despite the subject having a particularly strong relationship to the subject of Meteorology and Climatology, impacts of climate change occur (or they are expected to occur) in all types of areas, and because of this the subject has a strong multidisciplinary component and provides a knowlege with large practical importance for the development of the environmentalist profession.
4. Degree competences achieved in this course
| Course competences | |
|---|---|
| Code | Description |
| CB01 | Prove that they have acquired and understood knowledge in a subject area that derives from general secondary education and is appropriate to a level based on advanced course books, and includes updated and cutting-edge aspects of their field of knowledge. |
| CB05 | Have developed the necessary learning abilities to carry on studying autonomously |
| E01 | Ability to understand and apply basic knowledge. |
| E03 | Awareness of the temporal and spatial dimensions of environmental processes |
| E05 | Capacity for qualitative data interpretation |
| E06 | Capacity for quantitative data interpretation |
| E27 | Know clean technologies and renewable energies. |
| E28 | Energy management and optimization capacity |
| T01 | To know a second foreign language. |
| T02 | To know and apply the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). |
| T03 | To use a correct oral and written communication. |
| T04 | To know the ethical commitment and professional deontology. |
5. Objectives or Learning Outcomes
| Course learning outcomes | |
|---|---|
| Description | |
| Learn to relate environmental phenomena to the principles of physics that explain them. Especially those related to meteorological, climatological, air, noise and radiation pollution processes. | |
| To know the projections of anthropogenic climate change, its causes, its main consequences, the techniques for its study and the strategies for its mitigation. | |
| To understand the components of the climate system, the complex interactions between them and climate variability at different time scales. | |
| Additional outcomes | |
| Not established. |
6. Units / Contents
-
Unit 1: Introduction: The climate system
-
Unit 2: Planetary balances of energy and water
-
Unit 3: The atmosphere
-
Unit 4: The oceans
-
Unit 5: Feedback mechanisms and sensitivity of climate system
-
Unit 6: The evolution of earth climate
-
Unit 7: Anthropogenic climate warming. Climate change
-
Unit 8: Climate models. Emissions scenarios and global climate change scenarios
-
Unit 9: Impacts of climate change
-
Unit 10: Mitigation of climate change
7. Activities, Units/Modules and Methodology
| Training Activity | Methodology | Related Competences (only degrees before RD 822/2021) | ECTS | Hours | As | Com | Description | |
| Class Attendance (theory) [ON-SITE] | Lectures | CB05 E01 E03 E05 | 1.08 | 27 | N | N | ||
| Computer room practice [ON-SITE] | Combination of methods | CB01 CB05 E01 E03 E05 E06 T01 T02 | 0.6 | 15 | Y | N | ||
| Writing of reports or projects [OFF-SITE] | Combination of methods | CB01 CB05 E01 E03 E05 E06 E27 E28 T01 T02 T03 T04 | 1.2 | 30 | Y | N | ||
| Study and Exam Preparation [OFF-SITE] | Self-study | CB01 CB05 E01 E03 E05 E06 E27 E28 T01 | 1.5 | 37.5 | N | N | ||
| Final test [ON-SITE] | Assessment tests | CB01 CB05 E01 E03 E05 E06 E27 E28 T03 | 0.08 | 2 | Y | Y | ||
| Mid-term test [ON-SITE] | Assessment tests | CB01 CB05 E01 E03 E05 E06 T03 | 0.04 | 1 | Y | N | ||
| Total: | 4.5 | 112.5 | ||||||
| Total credits of in-class work: 1.8 | Total class time hours: 45 | |||||||
| Total credits of out of class work: 2.7 | Total hours of out of class work: 67.5 | |||||||
As: Assessable training activity Com: Training activity of compulsory overcoming (It will be essential to overcome both continuous and non-continuous assessment).
8. Evaluation criteria and Grading System
| Evaluation System | Continuous assessment | Non-continuous evaluation * | Description |
| Final test | 35.00% | 100.00% | Continuous assessment: Students that have passed the mid-term test (with a minimum grade of 4 over 10) only have to be assessed for the second part of the subject. Students that have not passed the mid-term test have to be assessed for the two parts of the subject. In this later case, the weight of the final exam in the final grade will be 70%. Non-continuous evaluation: the final grade of the subject will be the grade obtained in the final exam. |
| Practicum and practical activities reports assessment | 30.00% | 0.00% | |
| Mid-term tests | 35.00% | 0.00% | Mid-term exam for the first part of the topics. If passed, this part will not be included in the final exam. For passing this exam, a minimum grade of 4 over 10 is needed. |
| Total: | 100.00% | 100.00% |
According to art. 4 of the UCLM Student Evaluation Regulations, it must be provided to students who cannot regularly attend face-to-face training activities the passing of the subject, having the right (art. 12.2) to be globally graded, in 2 annual calls per subject , an ordinary and an extraordinary one (evaluating 100% of the competences).
Evaluation criteria for the final exam:
-
Continuous assessment:The final grade will be obtained applying the indicated weights to the mid-term test, the practicum and the final exam. If the mid-term test has not been passed, the weight of the final exam will be 70%.
-
Non-continuous evaluation:The grade of the final exam will be equal to 100% of the final grade. The modality assigned by default to the student will be the continuous evaluation. Any student may request the change to the non-continuous evaluation modality (before the end of the class period) by sending an email to the teacher, provided that he/she has not completed 50% of the assessable activities
Specifications for the resit/retake exam:
Continuous assessment: The assessment criteria for the midterm exam and the final exam will be the same indicated above: if the midterm test has been passed, it will have a 35% weight and the retake exam (for the second part of the topics) will have a 35% weight, but if the midterm test has not been passed, the weight of the retake exam (covering all the topics) will be 70%. The grade for the practicum will be the one obtained during the course, but in case of a fail grade the practicum report may be optionally presented again.
Non-continuous evaluation: The grade of the final exam will be equal to 100% of the final grade.
Non-continuous evaluation: The grade of the final exam will be equal to 100% of the final grade.
Specifications for the second resit / retake exam:
The final grade in this case will coincide with the grade obtained in this second retake exam.
9. Assignments, course calendar and important dates
| Not related to the syllabus/contents | |
|---|---|
| Hours | hours |
10. Bibliography and Sources
| Author(s) | Title | Book/Journal | Citv | Publishing house | ISBN | Year | Description | Link | Catálogo biblioteca |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrens, C. Donald | Meteorology today : an introduction to weather, climate and the environment | Brooks/Cole | 0-534-37379-8 | 2000 |
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| Archer D. | Global Warming: Understanding the forecast (2nd edition) | John Wiley & Sons Ltd | 978-0-470-94341-0 | 2011 |
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| Archer D. & Rahmstorf S. | The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change | Cambridge University Press | 978-0-521-73255-0 | 2010 | |||||
| H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.) | IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | 2022 | https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/ | ||||||
| Hartmann, Dennis L. | Global physical climatology | Academic Press | 0-12-328530-5 | 1994 |
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| Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.) | IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | Cambridge University Press | 2021 | https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/ | |||||
| P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, R. Slade, A. Al Khourdajie, R. van Diemen, D. McCollum, M. Pathak, S. Some, P. Vyas, R. Fradera, M. Belkacemi, A. Hasija, G. Lisboa, S. Luz, J. Malley, (eds.) | IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | 2022 | https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/ | ||||||
| Paul Hawken (Ed.) | Drawdown : the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming | New York | Penguin Books | 978-0-14-313044-4 | 2017 | ||||
| Peixoto, J. P. & Oort A. H. | Physics of climate | American Institute of Physics | 0-88318-712-4 | 1992 |
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| Ruddiman, William F. | Earth's climate : past and future | W. H. Freeman and Company | 0-7167-3741-8 | 2002 |
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| Talley L.D., Pickard G.L., Emery W.J., Swift J.H. | Descriptive Physical Oceanography: An Introduction (Sixth Edition) | Boston | Elsevier | 978-0-7506-4552-2 | 2011 |
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