Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Applies and integrates concepts from hydrological science to assess the various impacts to water cycles over a range of scales, considering both climate and other environmental stressors. Secondary impacts of climate change on water resources (including water for humans and aquatic ecosystems) are explored, focusing on current issues to generate ideas for potential mitigative and adaptive solutions. Students with credit for EASC 405 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

Changes to the water cycle resulting from changes in climate and changes to the broader environment directly impact people and ecosystems. Our understanding of hydrologic system response to climate fluctuations continues to rapidly evolve, building on a substantial and productive research history. Fundamentally, questions remain about changes to water budget components, including precipitation, evapotranspiration, streamflow, and groundwater recharge due to uncertainties in the physical processes themselves and the climate change predictions. Similarly, the suitability of historical records for forecasting is sometimes compromised by persistent natural variations and human driven changes (e.g., urbanization). Managing water resources requires the ability to provide reliable predictions of the response of the water cycle to changing environmental conditions at a range of scales. How will the hydrologic system and associated subsystems respond to, and evolve under, natural and human induced changes in climate and the environment?

In this course, students integrate knowledge of the hydrological sciences (climate, hydrology, hydrogeology, water chemistry) to understand the various linkages within the water cycle and its relevance to water resources. We first review climate science from the perspective of climate variability and climate change (causes, past evidence, approaches for making predictions about the future). We will then focus on the various impacts to water cycles over a range of scales, considering both climate and other environmental stressors. The secondary impacts of climate and broader environmental change on the environment (including impacts to humans and aquatic ecosystems) are explored in the second part of the course by focusing on current issues in different regions around the globe to generate ideas for potential adaptive solutions.

Course Topics:

• Climate Variability and Change: Understanding the past and making predictions into the future.
• Impacts to Water Cycles: From the catchment scale to global scale (e.g., shifting hydrologic regimes, salinization, desertification).
• Secondary Impacts:  Water sustainability; drinking water quality; food security; energy security.
• Adaptive Solutions: Conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater; watershed management.

Course Organization:

This course will comprise one 2-hour lecture and one 3-hour lab each week. The labs will encompass a range of activities (practical modeling and mapping assignments, writing assignments, group activities, discussions). The course will culminate in a term project for which students will select a region and undertake a climate change impacts and adaptation assessment. Students will present their term project in poster format and give a short presentation.

Graduate students will be responsible for developing and delivering one half hour lecture (assigned) and playing a more active role in the group activities. There is a higher level of expectation on the quality and comprehensiveness of written assignments compared to undergraduates.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Knowledge Development – Normally, undergraduate courses are taught in a bit of a silo manner. In this course, students integrate their knowledge of the hydrological sciences (climate, hydrology, hydrogeology, water chemistry) to understand the various linkages between the sub-disciplines, exploring the water cycle and its relevance to water resources. How might changes in climate affect the hydrologic cycle? What might the impacts be to water resources (both quantity and quality)? What are the secondary impacts to food and energy security, aquatic ecosystems?

Critical Thinking: Given this knowledge, how can it be applied to address current issues related to climate change adaptation and mitigation? What can we learn from past impacts of climate change? What local/regional factors might influence decision making?

Oral Communication Skill Development:  Debate, formal presentations, informal discussion are all means of communication. Within a group setting, facilitated break-out discussions are often used to collect ideas and build consensus. These various forms of oral communication will be used in this course to expose students to different ways that scientists communicate.

Writing Skill Development: Assignments and the term project will be largely writing intensive. Written forms of communication will include, for example, a letter to the editor of a newspaper, a public interest article, a scientific report to a government agency responsible for water management.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

RECOMMENDED READING: