E-PSCI 139: Paleoclimate as Prologue

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2024

In this course we will quantitatively assess past events in Earth's history involving temperature, precipitation, and sea level, and leverage these past phenomena to inform about future changes in climate. Topics include inferring temperature from instrumental, dendrochronological, ice-core, and marine proxy records over the Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age, and post-industrial epochs; exploring variations in sea level recorded by tide gages and coral records over the Holocene and Last Interglacial; assessing precipitation variability using modern instrumental records and late-Pleistocene lake level and speleothem records; and evaluating changes in mountain glaciers and ice sheets over the Plio-Pleistocene. Statistical approaches paired with these analyses include Bayesian inference, Fourier analysis, quantile regression, and extreme value theory. Students are provided with data, example code, and sufficient context to come to develop independent conclusions regarding past phenomena and how they inform regarding future change. A typical class session involves discussion of a scientific paper, lecture introducing relevant theory and analytical approaches, hands-on data analysis, and a brief interview with an outside expert. Students also individually, or in small teams, develop a line of research in collaboration with the teaching staff that extends upon class topics or related paleoclimate questions. Some background in science, math, statistics, or coding is helpful.

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