Natural Processes

Course goals

• describe the major energy and chemical stocks in the earth systems' compartments, as well as the flows between them;
• understand the major processes that govern the transport of energy and elements  within and between the different environmental compartments (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere);
• understand how anthropogenic disturbances of the main flows and stocks of energy and elements are linked to global change phenomena.

Content

The aim of this course is to provide the student with a solid natural science base for studying global change. As such, it provides the fundamental understanding of natural processes that are needed as a basis for follow-up courses dealing in depth with specific global change effects, such as Global Climate Change.

We will focus on the earths' energy balance, the hydrological cycle and the elemental cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, because they are essential for life on earth and are linked to the major global change effects that our society is dealing with today. We will look at the major stocks of energy, water and elements in different environmental compartments (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere), as well as the processes that govern the exchange between those compartments and the storage capacity of the compartments.

Subjects that are covered include:

• The global energy budget
• The global cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus
• Atmosphere
  • Atmospheric composition
  • Precipitation
  • Evapotranspiration
  • Atmospheric circulation
  • The climate system
• Hydrosphere
  • Hydrological cycle
  • Hydrochemistry
  • Principles of hydrological flow in ground- and surface water
  • Ocean circulation
• Lithosphere
  • Soil formation
  • Transport processes in soils
  • Physical and chemical properties of soils
  • Soil biogeochemistry
  • Organic matter cycling in soils
• Biosphere
  • Major biomes of the earth
  • Biodiversity
  • Productivity
  • Population dynamics
  • Trophic interactions
  • Biogeography

This course includes an Honours component which is organized together with Socio-economic processes (GEO1-2413).

This course is the entry requirement for:

• Bachelor’s thesis GSS (GEO3-2422).