NES2503 : Oceans and Climate I
- Offered for Year: 2024/25
- Module Leader(s): Professor Sam Wilson
- Lecturer: Dr Miguel Morales Maqueda
- Owning School: Natural and Environmental Sciences
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
Semester 1 Credit Value: | 20 |
ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
European Credit Transfer System |
Aims
The aim of the module is to develop an understanding of:
1. The functioning of marine ecosystems and the physical, chemical, and biological factors that underpin key
ecosystem processes and biogeochemical cycling in the ocean environment.
2. The importance of carbon capture and export, and placing the oceans in context of other marine, freshwater,
and terrestrial habitats.
3. The biomass of the ocean, how it is partitioned into macro- and microorganisms, and the role of the microbial
food web
4. The relevance of environmental stressors such as ocean acidification, deoxygenation, and extreme weather
events to the ocean environment.
5. The collection of oceanographic data ranging from oceanographic research expeditions to unmanned vehicles
6. The socio-economic and scientific context for potential future geoengineering for carbon sequestration
Outline Of Syllabus
Research topics are introduced in lectures and explored in greater depth in data-workshops where students use real oceanographic data to analyse and visualize the taught concepts. A field class will facilitate the students to design their own sampling strategy, collect samples and work with the data. Key research topics include:
1. Physical structure of the water column with relation to macroscale (e.g. ocean basin circulation), mesoscale
(e.g. eddy biogeochemistry) and microscale (e.g. stratification)
2. Structure of ocean basins and the water column to focus on natural gradients in nutrient status (eutrophic to
oligotrophic), biomass, light, atmospheric deposition
3. Ocean biogeochemical cycling with emphasis on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles
4. Carbon capture (photosynthesis): Controlling factors; methods for measurement; photosynthetic biomass.
5. Carbon sequestration: The biological vs chemical pump; controlling factors; potential for enhancement
6. The microbial foodweb: how microbes catalyse biogeochemical cycles
7. Key environmental stressors (such as ocean acidification, deoxygenation, and extreme weather events) and the
timescales over which they impact the ocean environment
8. Unresolved questions and the scientific objectives of ongoing international oceanographic research programs.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 10 | 1:00 | 10:00 | Preparation for workshop |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 10 | 1:00 | 10:00 | In person lectures |
Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 30:00 | 30:00 | Completion of 2 summative assessments |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Practical | 2 | 3:00 | 6:00 | Sample analysis from fieldwork |
Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 10 | 10:00 | 100:00 | Weekly reading of books and articles |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 10 | 2:00 | 20:00 | Data-driven workshop |
Guided Independent Study | Project work | 1 | 15:00 | 15:00 | Preparation for fieldwork |
Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Fieldwork | 1 | 10:00 | 10:00 | In person fieldwork |
Total | 201:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Primary lectures introduce key concepts described in the Syllabus Outline. The lectures are followed on by data-driven workshops which provide the students with scientific datasets relating to the syllabus topics. Each workshop will start with an introductory lecture about how the data was collected and the aims of the research programme that the data originate from. Students will work in small groups to analyse, visualize, and describe the data patterns. Working as a small group will enhance their communication and team skills. Each data workshops will finish with formative peer-review assessment. Using the skills developed in the data workshops, the students will work in small groups to design their own sampling strategy to investigate upper water-column biogeochemical cycling.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Written exercise | 1 | M | 50 | Students write a field report (2000-2500 words) based on the fieldwork |
Written exercise | 1 | M | 50 | Students will be given four datasets and asked to plot and describe the trends (800-1000 words) |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
---|---|---|---|
Prob solv exercises | 1 | M | Problem solving exercises (maximum 500 words each) |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The written assessments will assess both the theoretical knowledge and understanding, as well as data handling skills (visualisation and interpretation). The scheduled data workshops will have an integrated formative assessment using peer-review that will help students develop constructive review skills and improve their own work. There will be two summative assessments that require the students to apply the skills that they have learned in the data workshops. The first summative assessment is a field report with brief introduction, methods, results and discussion based on the fieldwork that the students will have designed and executed. The second summative assessment will provide the students with preexisting oceanographic datasets and ask them to plot and interpret the values. The datasets will be drawn from the main topics of the module, including physical oceanography, primary production and environmental gradients, and changes to ocean ecosystems. Overall, the assessments are designed to develop the writing skills, data analysis and interpretation of the students.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- NES2503's Timetable