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Module

NES1206 : Climate Change and the Earth System

  • Offered for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Cees van der Land
  • Lecturer: Professor Yit Arn Teh, Dr Simon Peacock, 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: 10
ECTS Credits: 5.0
European Credit Transfer System

Aims

This module aims to provide students with a deep understanding of Earth System Science and its implications for climate processes.

To provide students with a holistic understanding of Earth System Science and its role in shaping climate processes.

To foster an interdisciplinary approach, integrating principles from meteorology, oceanography, geology, and biology and other relevant fields to study Earth's climate dynamics.

To develop critical thinking and practical skills, enabling students to analyse complex Earth processes and phenomena and evaluate the impact of human activities on the Earth system.

Outline Of Syllabus

1. Global Systems, topics to be covered include: The Earth's geosphere, the atmosphere, the oceans, the biosphere, the cryosphere
2. Transport, topics to be covered include: global cycling elements (e.g., carbon and oxygen).
3. Energy, topics to be covered include: solar energy (radiation, latent and sensible heat) and climate.
4. Homeostasis, topics to be covered include: positive and negative feedback, climate change and global warming.
5. Global warming and climate change: PaleoclimateRece

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture111:0011:00Lectures covering the syllabus
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion110:0010:00Topic Tutorial preparation
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion154:0054:00Includes background reading and reading lecture notes for a full understanding of material
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion120:0020:00Exam preparation
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching51:005:00Topic Tutorials
Total100:00
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures introduce core information (linked directly to all Intended Knowledge Outcomes). Small group teaching (tutorials) is designed to put this information into context of “real world examples”, and to apply information to solving explicit problems, encouraging a deeper understanding of gained core information and further reading (linked directly to Intended skills and Knowledge Outcomes).

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Exams
Description Length Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Digital Examination601A100MCQ Digital Examination
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
Practical/lab report1MTopic Tutorial Practice
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Given the breadth of subject areas covered in this introductory module for a range of programmes, the assessment method will be based on an exam.

Reading Lists

Timetable