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Syllabus

Syllabus#

EAS 48800 / EAS B8800 / SUS 7300B: Climate and Climate Change#

Course Information#

Course Description#

This class introduces you to modern climate science. We’ll explore questions like: What does climate mean? What is Earth’s climate now? What controls it? What was it like in Earth’s past, and why? What is it likely to do in the future? How do human activities influence it? Answering them requires multiple scientific approaches including meteorology, physical oceanography, hydrology, atmospheric chemistry, ocean biogeochemistry, and ecology.

Climate science relies on incredibly complicated and powerful tools such as a satellite-based observational network and supercomputer-run climate models—but this class will emphasize simple models and conceptual understanding: how we can understand many fundamental aspects of the incredibly complex climate system on a chalkboard via remarkably elegant and simple frameworks.

Grading#

There is no pre-set distribution of grades or “curve” across the class: you are not competing against your classmates.

For those enrolled in this class as EAS 48800 or SUS 7300B, this course is 3 credits. For those enrolled in B8800, it is 4 credits, with the 4th credit coming through a term paper whose requirements will be covered elsewhere.

The grading breakdown is listed below. Participation is determined by your attendance, attentiveness, engagement during class, and weekly posts on the course Blackboard site message board (more details on that below). Attending class is crucial! Lectures will not generally be recorded or zoomed, because as much as possible we’ll be working at the blackboard rather than from slides.

For B8800 students only, details on the required term paper are available here.

Category

Weight, EAS48800 & SUS7300B

Weight, EAS B8800

Homework

20%

20%

Participation

10%

10%

Midterms

40%

30%

Final exam

30%

20%

Term paper

0%

20%

Expectations#

Readings#

You should consider assigned reading from the textbook to be mandatory, as opposed to optional/supplemental. Asssigned readings are posted on the course schedule, and it is expected that you have completed the assigned reading prior to arriving at class that day.

That said, the midterms and final exam will focus almost entirely on material we cover directly in class. So spend your time studying accordingly.

Weekly posts on course message board#

As part of the participation category of grading, each week (starting the week of Feb. 19-23) you are required to post at least once to the course Blackboard message board. The post can be either one of the following:

  1. Identifying something from class or from an assignment that you didn’t fully understand.

  2. Providing an answer or explanation to somebody else’s post about something they didn’t fully understand.

Homework#

HW assignments are graded on an effort basis, A+ through F. An earnest, thoughtful attempt at every problem will earn you an A. Truly exceptional work will earn an A+.

All HW due dates will be posted on the course schedule. They are due at the START of class, 9:30am, that day.

At the end of the semester, your lowest HW score will be dropped.

Course materials#

Required textbook#

Global Physical Climatology, 2nd edition, by Dennis Hartmann.

Course Blackboard site#

Announcements and other key materials will be posted on the course Blackboard site.

Course public website#

This syllabus, the course schedule, links to lecture slides, and some supplementary materials will be posted on this public website (the one you’re on right now).

Academic Integrity#

I encourage you to use ChatGPT as a tool to advance your learning, not as a crutch. You simply will not learn the material if you uncritically ask ChatGPT to do your assignments for you—and your exam scores will reflect that. But it is possible to use in a way that helps you really understand the material. More generally: don’t cheat. You are required to follow CCNY’s Community Standards and the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity.

CCNY resources available to you#

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