Earth and Environmental Sciences

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited. Students must also sign up for the corresponding lab course, EESC BC1011, to receive credit.

This class examines the basic principles of environmental science using current local and global environmental news as case studies. Issues covered are climate change, invasive species, water resources, sustainability, etc. A major goal is for students to understand the science behind environmental issues. Readings from the scientific literature, various newspaper articles, magazines and an online textbook are carefully coordinated with the topics. Because of our location, the lab curriculum features studies of the Hudson River and its forested shorelines. The lab is closely paired with the lecture and features hands-on and inquiry-based lab and field studies of statistics, data presentation, writing in the format of a scientific paper, data collection (on land and on the Hudson River), water chemistry, microbiology, microscopic and macroscopic life in the river, birds and plants in Riverside Park, biodiversity on a green roof, local geology, topographical maps, compass use, and museum studies.

Please note:  In order to register for EESC BC1001, students must first register for one of the sections of Environmental Science Lab EESC BC1011 . Students must take both lecture and lab.

"Corequisite:  EESC BC1001.  To secure a spot in the class, students must  first enroll in EESC BC1011, Environmental Science Lab before enrolling in EESC  BC1001, Lecture, to be included in the waitlist for the lecture portion.  Enrollment is secured by inclusion in the lab section which is limited in size."

"Corequisite:  EESC BC1001.  To secure a spot in the class, students must  first enroll in EESC BC1011, Environmental Science Lab before enrolling in EESC  BC1001, Lecture, to be included in the waitlist for the lecture portion.  Enrollment is secured by inclusion in the lab section which is limited in size."

"Corequisite:  EESC BC1001.  To secure a spot in the class, students must  first enroll in EESC BC1011, Environmental Science Lab before enrolling in EESC  BC1001, Lecture, to be included in the waitlist for the lecture portion.  Enrollment is secured by inclusion in the lab section which is limited in size."

"Corequisite:  EESC BC1001.  To secure a spot in the class, students must  first enroll in EESC BC1011, Environmental Science Lab before enrolling in EESC  BC1001, Lecture, to be included in the waitlist for the lecture portion.  Enrollment is secured by inclusion in the lab section which is limited in size."

"Corequisite:  EESC BC1001.  To secure a spot in the class, students must  first enroll in EESC BC1011, Environmental Science Lab before enrolling in EESC  BC1001, Lecture, to be included in the waitlist for the lecture portion.  Enrollment is secured by inclusion in the lab section which is limited in size."

Explore the geology of the sea floor, understand what drives ocean currents and how ocean ecosystems operate. Case studies and discussions centered on ocean-related issues facing society.

Prerequisites: high school science and math. An introduction to risks and hazards in the environment. Different types of hazards are analyzed and compared: natural disasters, such as tornados, earthquakes, and meteorite impacts; acute and chronic health effects caused by exposure to radiation and toxic substances such as radon, asbestos, and arsenic; long-term societal effects due to environmental change, such as sea level rise and global warming. Emphasizes the basic physical principles controlling the hazardous phenomena and develops simple quantitative methods for making scientifically reasoned assessments of the threats (to health and wealth) posed by various events, processes, and exposures. Discusses methods of risk mitigation and sociological, psychological, and economic aspects of risk control and management.

Prerequisites: none; high school chemistry recommended. Survey of the origin and extent of mineral resources, fossil fuels, and industrial materials, that are non renewable, finite resources, and the environmental consequences of their extraction and use, using the textbook Earth Resources and the Environment, by James Craig, David Vaughan and Brian Skinner. This course will provide an overview, but will include focus on topics of current societal relevance, including estimated reserves and extraction costs for fossil fuels, geological storage of CO2, sources and disposal methods for nuclear energy fuels, sources and future for luxury goods such as gold and diamonds, and special, rare materials used in consumer electronics (e.g. ;Coltan; mostly from Congo) and in newly emerging technologies such as superconducting magnets and rechargeable batteries (e.g. heavy rare earth elements, mostly from China). Guest lectures from economists, commodity traders and resource geologists will provide ;real world; input. Discussion Session Required.

Prerequisites: high school algebra. Recommended preparation: high school chemistry and physics; and one semester of college science. Origin and development of the atmosphere and oceans, formation of winds, storms and ocean currents, reasons for changes through geologic time. Recent influence of human activity: the ozone hole, global warming, water pollution. Laboratory exploration of topics through demonstrations, experimentation, computer data analysis, and modeling. Students majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences should plan to take EESC W2100 before their senior year to avoid conflicts with Senior Seminar.

Recommended preparation: high school chemistry and physics; and one semester of college science. Exploration of how the solid Earth works, today and in the past, focusing on Earth in the Solar system, continents and oceans, the Earth's history, mountain systems on land and sea, minerals and rocks, weathering and erosion, glaciers and ice sheets, the hydrological cycle and rivers, geochronology, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, energy resources. Laboratory exploration of topics through examination of rock samples, experimentation, computer data analysis, field exercises, and modeling. Columbia and Barnard majors should plan to take W2200 before their senior year to avoid conflicts with the Senior Seminar.

The course provides students with the natural science basis to appreciate co-dependencies of natural and human systems, which are central to understanding sustainable development.  After completing the course, students should be able to incorporate scientific approaches into their research or policy decisions and be able to use scientific methods of data analysis.  The semester will highlight the climate system and solutions from both physical and ecological perspectives; water resources; food production and the cycling of nutrients; and the role of biodiversity in sustainable development.  The course emphasizes key scientific concepts such as uncertainty, experimental versus observational approaches, prediction and predictability, the use of models and other essential methodological aspects.

Prerequisites: Enrollment limited. Required field trip on first Friday of the semester. Hands-on approach to learning environmental methods. Students take a one-day cruise on the Hudson River to collect environmental samples. These samples are then analyzed throughout the semester to characterize the Hudson River estuary. Standard and advanced techniques to analyze water and sediment samples for nutrients and contaminants are taught.

Prerequisites: One year of college science or EESC V2100 or permission of the instructor. Acquisition, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of environmental data, assessment of spatial and temporal variability. Focus on water quality issues and storm surges. Uses existing and student-generated data sets. Basic principles of statistics and GIS, uses standard software packages including EXCEL and ArcGIS. Includes a half-day field trip on a Saturday or Sunday. General Education Requirement: Quantitative and Deductive Reasoning (QUA).

Prerequisites: One year of college science or EESC V2100 or permission of the instructor. Acquisition, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of environmental data, assessment of spatial and temporal variability. Focus on water quality issues and storm surges. Uses existing and student-generated data sets. Basic principles of statistics and GIS, uses standard software packages including EXCEL and ArcGIS. Includes a half-day field trip on a Saturday or Sunday. General Education Requirement: Quantitative and Deductive Reasoning (QUA).

Pre-requisites Chem 1 and Calculus I ; Co-requisites Chemistry II (CHEM1404 or equivalent) and Calculus II (MATH UN2030 or equivalent)
By the end of this course, students will understand: The biogeochemical cycles driving the composition of trace gas and aerosol species that are both long- and short-lived in the atmosphere that influence climate by directly interacting with radiation (i.e. greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, CFCs, aerosols) and those that do so mainly by altering the concentrations of other gases (OH, NOx, etc.); The effects of these gas and aerosol species on climate and atmospheric composition; Climate mitigation strategies that are being considered in response to climate warming.

This course is designed for undergraduate students seeking a quantitative introduction to climate and climate change science. EESC V2100 (Climate Systems) is not a prerequisite, but can also be taken for credit if it is taken before this course.

Prerequisites: Any 1000-level or 2000-level EESC course; MATH UN1101 Calculus I and CHEM UN1403 General Chemistry I or their equivalents. The origin, evolution, and future of our planet, based on the book How to Build a Habitable Planet by Wallace S. Broecker. This course will focus on the geochemical processes that built Earth from solar material, led to its differentiation into continents and ocean, and have maintained its surface at a comfortable temperature. Students will participate in a hands-on geochemistry project at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Students address real-world issues in sustainable development by working in groups for an external client agency. Instruction in communication, collaboration, and management; meetings with and presentations to clients and academic community. Projects vary from year to year. Readings in the course are project-specific and are identified by the student research teams.

Guided, independent, in-depth research culminating in the senior thesis in the spring. Includes discussion about scientific presentations and posters, data analysis, library research methods and scientific writing. Students review work in progress and share results through oral reports. Weekly seminar to review work in progress and share results through oral and written reports.

Guided, independent, in-depth research culminating in the senior thesis in the spring. Includes discussion about scientific presentations and posters, data analysis, library research methods and scientific writing. Students review work in progress and share results through oral reports. Weekly seminar to review work in progress and share results through oral and written reports.

In this course, students develop and complete a one-semester independent research project in an area of Climate System Science. Each student works closely with a research Mentor, and the course experience for all students is coordinated with a course Instructor. This course fulfills the Capstone experience for the Climate System Science major in DEES. This course cannot be combined with one semester of Senior Seminar UN3901, which is designed as a 1-year course.

Prerequisites: advanced calculus and general physics, or the instructors permission. Basic physical processes controlling atmospheric structure: thermodynamics; radiation physics and radiative transfer; principles of atmospheric dynamics; cloud processes; applications to Earths atmospheric general circulation, climatic variations, and the atmospheres of the other planets.

Prerequisites: One semester of college-level calculus and chemistry; Plus one semester of college-level physics or geoscience. Or instructor's permission. The accelerating climate change of the current day is driven by humanity’s modifications to the global carbon cycle. This course offers an introduction basic science of the carbon cycle, with a focus on large-scale processes occurring on annual to centennial timescales. Students will leave this course with an understanding of the degree to which the global carbon cycle is understood and quantified, as well as the key uncertainties that are the focus of current research. We will build understanding of the potential pathways, and the significant challenges, to limiting global warming to 2o C as intended by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The course will begin with a brief review of climate science basics and the role of CO2 in climate and climate change (weeks 1-2). In weeks 3-4, the natural reservoirs and fluxes that make up the global carbon cycle will be introduced. In week 5-6, anthropogenic emissions and the observed changes in climate associated with increasing atmospheric CO2 will be discussed. In weeks 7-11, we will learn about how the land biosphere and ocean are mitigating the increase in atmospheric CO2 and the feedbacks that may substantially modify these natural sinks. In weeks 12-13, the international policy process and the potential for carbon cycle management will be the focus. In weeks 14, students will present their final projects

Prerequisites: Course Cap 20 students. Priority given to graduate students in the natural sciences and engineering. Advanced level undergraduates may be admitted with the instructors permission. Calculus I and Physics I & II are required for undergraduates who wish to take this course. General introduction to fundamentals of remote sensing; electromagnetic radiation, sensors, interpretation, quantitative image analysis and modeling. Example applications in the Earth and environmental sciences are explored through the analysis of remote sensing imagery in a state-or-the-art visualization laboratory.

Prerequisites: Introductory geology and one year of calculus. Recommended preparation: One semester of college physics. Introduction to the fundamental concepts of structure and deformation processes in the Earth's crust. Fundamental theories of stress and strain, rock behavior in both brittle and ductile fields, large-scale crustal contractional and extensional structures with focus on their geometries and mechanics of formation. Introduction to the principles of earthquake mechanics with emphasis on physical processes. Laboratory sessions (part of the lecture) will cover techniques of structural analysis, recognition and interpretation of structures on geologic maps, and construction of interpretive cross sections.

Understanding the fundamental processes driving our Climate System is more important than ever. In this course, I will give an overview of the archives in which evidence of terrestrial paleoclimate is preserved, the approaches to developing and applying proxies of climate from these archives, approaches for constraining the time represented by the information, and interpretations that have been developed from such archives. Important archives to be included are ice cores, caves, wetlands, lakes, trees, and moraines. The time interval covered will be mostly the last few tens of thousands of years, and chronometers based on radiocarbon, U-series and cosmogenic nuclide dating will be presented. A particular emphasis will be put on natural climate processes and interactions that are relevant for the ongoing climate crisis and potential solutions. The course will consist of formal lectures that alternate with recitation and discussing examples and problem solving.

Prerequisites: none; high school chemistry recommended. This course is open to graduate students, and juniors and seniors within DEES, Sus Dev, Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, and APAM - or with the instructors permission. Survey of the origin and extent of mineral resources, fossil fuels, and industrial materials, that are non renewable, finite resources, and the environmental consequences of their extraction and use, using the textbook Earth Resources and the Environment, by James Craig, David Vaughan and Brian Skinner. This course will provide an overview, but will include focus on topics of current societal relevance, including estimated reserves and extraction costs for fossil fuels, geological storage of CO2, sources and disposal methods for nuclear energy fuels, sources and future for luxury goods such as gold and diamonds, and special, rare materials used in consumer electronics (e.g. ;Coltan; mostly from Congo) and in newly emerging technologies such as superconducting magnets and rechargeable batteries (e.g. heavy rare earth elements, mostly from China). Guest lectures from economists, commodity traders and resource geologists will provide ;real world; input.

Prerequisites: For graduate students, basic background in chemistry, physics and earth science. For undergraduates, basic background in chemistry and physics, plus EESC UN2200 Solid Earth and EESC UN3101 Geochemistry for a Habitable Planet, or permission from the instructor. 

An introduction to the processes that drive the universe, the formation of our solar system, and the history and evolution of our planet. Topics include stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis (origin of the elements), principles of radioactive decay and geochronology, composition of the solar system and the Earth, evolution of the mantle and crust, and using isotopes to trace to geological processes.  

Prerequisites: introductory college-level biology and chemistry. An overview of the biology and ecology of the oceans with a focus on the interaction between marine organisms and the physics and chemistry of the oceans.

Prerequisites: Recommended preparation: a solid background in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Physical properties of seawater, water masses and their distribution, sea-air interaction influence on the ocean structure, basic ocean circulation pattern, relation of diffusion and advection with respect to distribution of ocean properties, ocean tides and waves, turbulence, and introduction to ocean dynamics.

Prerequisites: advanced calculus and general physics, or the instructors permission. Methods and underpinnings of seismology including seismogram analysis, elastic wave propogation theory, earthquake source characterization, instrumentation, inversion of seismic data to infer Earth structure.

Current topics in the Earth sciences.

Prerequisites: Graduate student status, calculus, or instructor permission Priority given to first year PhD students in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Computing has become an indispensable tool for Earth Scientists. This course will introduce incoming DEES PhD students to modern computing software, programming tools and best practices that are broadly applicable to carrying out research in the Earth Sciences. This includes an introduction to Unix, programming in three commonly used languages (Python, MATLAB and Fortran), version control and data backup, tools for visualizing geoscience data and making maps. Students will learn the basics of high performance computing and big data analysis tools available on cluster computers. Student learning will be facilitated through a combination of lectures, in-class exercises, homework assignments and class projects. All topics will be taught through example datasets or problems from Earth Sciences. The course is designed to be accessible for Earth Science graduate students in any discipline.

Prerequisites: calculus. Recommended preparation: linear algebra, statistics, computer programming. Introduction to the fundamentals of quantitative data analysis in Earth and environmental sciences. Topics: review of relevant probability, statistics and linear algebra; linear models and generalized least squares; Fourier analysis and introduction to spectral analysis; filtering time series (convolution,deconvolution,smoothing); factor analysis and empirical orthogonal functions; covariance and correlation; methods of interpolation; statistical significance and hypothesis testing; introduction to Monte Carlo methods for data analysis. Problem sets and term project require use of MATLAB or Python.

This course provides a basic quantitative introduction to (electromagnetic) radiation in the climate system, focusing on the atmosphere. We will establish the language used to describe radiation and describe how sources of radiation are related to temperature and to the physical properties and chemical composition of the atmosphere. We’ll learn how radiation emitted by the earth and atmosphere is transported between elements of the climate system and the rest of the universe, combining this with information about how the optical properties vary with wavelength to understand phenomena as varied as the cooling rate of the atmosphere, how “radiative forcing” arises from compositional changes and how this varies in space, and why the amount of rain increases more slowly than the amount of water in the atmosphere. We’ll then consider light from the sun, which arrives as a collimated beam that’s diffused in the atmosphere. We’ll consider methods for computing the fate of incoming sunlight and explore how this depends on the distribution of the gasses, aerosols, and clouds that make up the atmosphere.

This course explores environmental justice (EJ) through an anti-colonial lens that centers the perspectives of dispossessed communities in different places around the world. A key question we will address alongside selected reading and discussion topics: how do we decolonize our research? We will address this question through in-depth workshops on the existing research projects of DEES PhD students and others who wish to volunteer their work for interrogation.

Readings and discussions will cover themes that include interdisciplinarity, the history of science(s) and knowledge production, decolonizing the geosciences, and relations based in mutuality (as opposed to extractivism). Students will be trained in community-based research methods in part by developing an anthropological lens beginning with a self-ethnography workshop that focuses on positionality and then, for those who have selected the 3-credit option, through their own mini-ethnography projects.

The seminar will also follow and contribute to the community-based projects that we have been working with in New Orleans for the past 3 semester. The Black School is our main partnering organization, which is embarking on a lead abatement project as well as collaborating with the Lincoln Beach Restoration project. Seed funds have been allocated for this work, and we will continue to learn about how to do meaningful community-based work through these examples while identifying ways students can contribute to their efforts.

The goal of this course is to help students improve their writing for journal publication. Topics will include strategies for constructing an article; for keeping the manuscript moving forward; and for improving the quality of the student’s writing. Students must be actively working on a manuscript for publication, and must be willing to commit to a minimum of 10 minutes of writing per day. Additional work will include short reading and writing assignments throughout the term, and a small number of peer-review sessions outside of class. The course will be discussion oriented and taught in seminar style and will meet once per week for 1.5 hrs.