16:712:590 (S) The Role of Polar Regions in the Earth System (3)
The polar regions are a central to the Earth system, playing an outsized role in regulating the planet’s climate, chemistry, and ecosystems. The polar regions are changing rapidly in response to global warming, with far-reaching impacts on sea level rise, carbon cycling, and other global dynamics. Processes in the Arctic and Antarctic are central to understanding past and future climate variations, biodiversity and marine resources. In this course, we will build on fundamental physical and biological principles to understand the links between the cryosphere, ocean, atmosphere and biosphere in the polar regions. We will explore the drivers of polar change, and the ramifications of these changes for the Earth system and climate.
Course topics include: polar oceanography, ocean-cryosphere-atmosphere interactions, physics of glaciers and sea ice, primary and secondary production in polar systems, polar marine food webs, marine ecology, and climate change. The course will also highlight approaches and technologies used to make measurements in the polar oceans and cryosphere.