SIO115 Ice and the Climate System
Syllabus & Timetable 2020
Monday/Wednesday/Friday 9am in Revelle Conference Room (4301)
Please put your cell phones away before coming into my classes. If you are a medical person on call, or if you have children, or if there is some other legitimate reason why you might need to take a phone call during my class, then please let me know.
Homework is assigned each Friday and due the following Friday.
There are eight homeworks in total.
Late policy: 10% off every day after Friday. Homework needs to be in before the start of the next class because we might go over homework then.
You are expected to submit homeworks electronically, typed up in a PDF format.
You are allowed to use any program to type up your answers, but encouraged to use LaTeX! To facilitate the use of LaTeX, you will find templates for each homework on the course website, which are pre-populated with the questions for that homework. All that's left for you to do is going to the main.tex document on the directory on the left, adding your own name to the document, and writing your answers wherever it says "Your answer here." You can find some more information on how to get started with LaTeX here.
When submitting homework, please stick to the naming convention SIO115-HwXX-Lastname-Firstname.pdf, so for example, SIO115-HW01-Doe-Jane.pdf for the first homework. Please email your answers to parndt@ucsd.edu with subject line SIO115 Homework X Lastname Firstname by the appropriate deadline.
TA: Philipp Arndt: parndt@ucsd.edu
HELPFUL NOTES TO ASSIST IN PAPER READING AND DISCUSSION
Find in page:
Week 1. Introduction to the Cryosphere in the Earth System
- 6 January: Elements of the cryosphere; importance of the cryosphere **Week 1 Slides**
- 8 January: Role of the cryosphere in the climate system; NASA Tour of Cryosphere video partially shown in class
- 10 January: Role of the cryosphere in the climate system; sea-level change; paper & book discussion
Discussion papers:
- Scambos et al. 2011 Earth’s ice: Sea level, climate, and our future commitment
- What is the cryosphere? Hint: It's vital to farming, fishing and skiing (Mark Serreze, The Conversation)
***Guidelines for paper discussions***
Additional reading:
- Chapter 1 of "The Cryosphere" by Shawn Marshall.
- Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of the UNEP Report
Homework 1 (due Friday 17 January): Cryosphere and its importance for climate [LaTeX template]
Week 2. Past climate change and past climate records
- 13 January: Transition of snow to ice; ice divides; ice cores Video ** Week 2 Slides **
- 15 January: Ice ages; ocean isotopes
- 17 January: Paper discussion for ice cores and ice ages (Lorius and Petit)
Discussion papers:
- Shackleton et al., 2020 Abegail
- Lorius et al. 1985; Michael
- (Extra) Petit et al. 1999
Additional reading:
- Ice cores and climate change fact sheet: British Antarctic Survey
- Van Ommen, The Conversation, 2016
- Wolff, The Conversation, 2014
- BBC Article 14 Nov 2016
- Ice cores sections of "The Cryosphere" by Shawn Marshall (see Index).
Clarification:
An informal explanation of temperature reconstruction from stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) in ice cores.
Homework 2 (due Friday 24 January): Ice Cores and Past Climate
- Data for homework: icecore_isotope_data.txt, insolation.txt
- MATLAB template to get started: core_template.txt (to import the script directly into MATLAB you need to change the file extension to ".m")
- LaTeX template
- email with LaTeX clarifications & MATLAB first-timer instructions
Week 3. Snow cover, river ice and lake ice
- 20 January: MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY -- NO CLASS
- 22 January: Snow cover ** Week 3 Slides ***
- 24 January: River Ice and lake Ice
Discussion papers:
- Climate change is shrinking winter snowpack, which harms Northeast forests year-round (Reinmann and Templer, The Conversation, 2018)
Additional reading:
- Lake Baikal: how climate change is threatening the world’s oldest, deepest lake (Mackay and Swann, The Conversation, 2019)
- Breaking the ice: river ice as a marker of climate change (EGU Blog post by Wayana Dolan).
- Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of The Cryosphere" by Shawn Marshall.
Homework 3 (due Friday 31 January): Snow cover and lake ice [latex template]
Week 4. Lake ice & permafrost
- 27 January: Permafrost; active layer; importance of permafrost to climate *** Week 4 Slides ***
- 29 January: Permafrost; thermokarst; under sea permafrost; effects of thawing permafrost; monitoring permafrost
- 31 January: Permafrost wrap up and paper discussion (see below)
Discussion papers on permafrost:
- Airborne electromagnetic imaging of discontinuous permafrost Minsley et al., 2012
Extra discussion papers:
- The impact of the permafrost carbon feedback on global climate Schaefer et al., 2014
- Economic impacts of carbon dioxide and methane released from permafrost Hope & Schaefer, 2015
- Will the Arctic shift from a carbon sink to a carbon source Rawlins, The Conversation, 2015
- Methane and the risk of runaway global warming Glikson, The Conversation, 2013
- How Thawing Permafrost Is Beginning to Transform the Arctic 21 January 2020
- POLAR VORTEX EXPLAINER FROM NOAA
- Another explainer from Climate Signals
Suggested additional reading:
- Chapter 7 of "The Cryosphere" (~14 easy pages)
- Chapter 7 of UNEP report NEW UNEP REPORT ON PERMAFROST
- Facts about Permafrost (CenPerm in Denmark)
- Duguay 2005 AGU book chapter
Watch:
Homework 4 (due Friday 7 February): Permafrost [LaTeX template]
Week 5. Sea ice
- 3 February: Sea ice; ice-albedo feedback; sea-ice types ** Week 5 Slides ***
- 5 February: Sea ice growth; monitoring sea-ice extent and thickness
- 7 February: Age of sea ice; future projections.
Discussion papers:
- Observed Arctic sea-ice loss directly follows anthropogenic CO2 emission, Notz & Stroeve, Science, 2016
- Why Antarctica’s sea ice cover is so low, Arblaster et al., The Conversation
Extra discussion papers:
- The Arctic Ocean has lost 95 percent of its oldest ice — a startling sign of what’s to come, Washington Post
- Snow in the changing sea-ice systems, Webster et al., Nature Climate Change
- Arctic Sea-ice 101 (Program Manager Tom Wagner)
- Interactive sea-ice map from NSIDC
- Arctic Report Card 2018 video
- Arctic Report Card 2018 website
Suggested additional reading:
-
- Chapter 5 of "The Cryosphere" (~20 easy pages)
- Chapter 5 of UNEP report Arctic Report Card 2014 (see 18 December item on class media page)
Homework 5 (due Friday 14 February): Sea ice [latex template]
Week 6. Land ice: Glaciers and ice caps (GIC)
- 10 February: Introduction to GIC; types of glaciers; contribution of GIC to sea-level *** Week 6 Slides ***
- 12 February: Transformation of snow to ice; glacier mass balance
- 14 February: Glacier mass balance & measurement
Discussion papers:
- Glaciers are retreating. Millions rely on their water Jeremy Engle, New York Times
Extra reading:
- Warm ice in Mount Everest’s glaciers makes them more sensitive to climate change – new research Katie Miles, The Conversation
- A bird’s eye view of New Zealand’s changing glaciers, Andrew Lorrey et al., The Conversation
- We’ve been studying a glacier in Peru for 14 years – and it may reach the point of no return in the next 30 years Matthias Vuille, The Conversation
Suggested additional reading:
- Relevant section of Chapter 6 of UNEP report
- World Glacier Monitoring Service
Watch:
READ INSTRUCTIONS FOR TERM PAPER
Homework 6 (due Friday 21 February): Glacier mass budget [latex template]
Please research your term paper to the point that you can answer question 1 on next week's homework:
1. Term paper. By now you should have a topic picked out for your term paper. Please write a concise, clear paragraph (150-200 words) on what your topic is about, and provide three real peer-reviewed references that you have looked at on this topic. [10]
Week 7. Land ice: Ice sheets (Greenland & Antarctica)
- 17 February: PRESIDENTS' DAY HOLIDAY - NO CLASS
- 19 February: Mass balance of ice sheets; ice streams *** Week 7 Slides ***
- 21 February: Ice-ocean interaction; basal melting; surface melting; iceberg calving -- Greenland and Antarctica
Discussion papers:
-
- Nonlinear rise in Greenland runoff in response to post-industrial Arctic warming, Nature, December 2018
Extra reading:
-
- The big melt: Earth’s ice sheets are under attack, Science News for Students, January 2019
- Antarctic surface hydrology and impacts on ice-sheet mass balance, Nature Climate Change, November 2018
Homework 7 (due Friday 28 February): Glaciers and ice shelves [LaTeX Template]
Week 8. Land ice: Glacier Dynamics
No homework -- work on your presentation and term paper.
**** A FRIENDLY REMINDER TO PLEASE FILL IN YOUR CAPE FORMS 🙂 http://www.cape.ucsd.edu****
- 24 February: Surface melting in Greenland and Antarctica *** Week 8 Slides ***
- 26 February: Glacier dynamics: creep; flow-law; force balance
- 28 February: Ice dynamics; glacier surges; subglacial systems
Discussion papers:
- The paradigm shift in Antarctic ice sheet modelling Frank Pattyn
Extra reading:
- Scientist at work: Tracking melt water under the Greenland ice sheet, Joel Harper, The Conversation, 2016
- Ocean waves and lack of sea ice can trigger Antarctic ice shelves to disintegrate, Bennetts, The Conversation, 2018
- Why Antarctica and the Arctic are polar opposites, Science News for Students, January 201
- Deformation and sliding Antarctic Glaciers
No homework -- work on your presentation and term paper.
Week 9. Changes in land ice
**** PLEASE FILL IN YOUR CAPE FORMS http://www.cape.ucsd.edu ****
- 3 March: Subglacial water; subglacial processes; subglacial lakes *** Week 9 Slides ***
- 5 March: Marine ice sheet instability; ice shelf changes; buttressing
- 7 March: Wrap up and paper discussion (see below -- two papers)
Read 2014 media page about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet instability
Link to VICE program on Antarctic mass loss
Discussion papers for Friday:
- Ice shelf buttressing, The International Encyclopedia of Geography, Dan Goldberg 2017
- Marine ice sheet instability, AntarcticGlaciers, Bethan Davies, 2014
Extra reading
- Ocean-Ice Shelf Interaction in East Antarctica, Oceanography, Silvano et al. 2016
- The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets under 1.5 °C global warming, Nature, Pattyn 2018
Homework 8 (due Friday 13 March): Glacier and ice sheet dynamics & hydrology [LaTeX Template]
Week 10. Lightning presentations of term papers
(10 minutes each)
TIPS FOR GIVING LIGHTNING TALKS
PPT template for lightning talk
Please upload your presentation to the Google Drive
Filename format: "Last_name-Day-SIO115.ppt" e.g. "Fricker-Monday-SIO115.ppt"
Google Drive
**** PLEASE FILL IN YOUR CAPE FORMS http://www.cape.ucsd.edu ****
Please show up to all term paper presentations to support your fellow students!
Final term papers are due on Friday 13th March at 4pm, as electronic files to hafricker@ucsd.edu and parndt@ucsd.edu.
There will be no exceptions to this deadline unless there is a valid medical or childcare reason.
Week 11. Exam week
Good luck everyone!