AOSC675/475: Carbon
Cycle and Climate: Past, Present and Future
Instructor: Prof. Ning Zeng
Course website: http://www.atmos.umd.edu/~zeng/AOSC675
TuTh 9:30am - 10:45am
Room: Atlantic 2416
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Outline
This course introduces the fundamentals of the Earth's carbon cycle,
a key biogeochemical cycle that controls Earth's climate and
life. The course will focus on the changing characteristics of
the carbon cycle on several timescales, ranging from geological,
glacial-interglacial, interannual-interdecadal, and the more recent
anthropogenic influence on carbon cycle and climate, as well as the
how to manage the carbon cycle to mitigate climate change. The
carbon cycle in the atmosphere, land, ocean, biosphere will
be addressed. The underlying human activities such as fossil
fuel burning and deforestation that are responsible for the
increase in the atmosphere CO2 and our future options in dealing
with the carbon problem such as alternative energy, carbon
sequestration and management, as well as the relevant policy and
social aspects will also be discussed.
Sample questions we will examine include:
How and why does CO2 change on diurnal, seasonal, interannual time scales such as El Nino?
What is the so-called 'missing' carbon sink, i.e., where has all the
fossil fuel carbon gone?
How to calculate carbon footprint?
How true is the CO2 theory of climate change?
How strong is carbon-climate feedback in a global warming world?
What are the potential and impacts of various carbon
management/sequestration schemes?
Content
1. Fundamentals (1 week)
Overview
Historical background
The natural carbon cycle
The anthropogenically altered carbon cycle
2. Climate basics (1-2 weeks)
Fundamental controls of Earth's climate: energy
balance
Greenhouse effect
One-layer atmosphere model
General circulation of the atmosphere: Global
patterns of wind, pressure, precipitation and temperature
Hadley and Walker Circulation, mid-latitude
storms
Short-term climate variability: ENSO, NAO,
monsoons
Climate sensitivity and climate feedbacks
Climate projection
Impact and vulnerabilities
3. Processes underlying the natural carbon cycle (2 weeks)
Ocean
Land
Atmosphere
Seasonal cycles
4. Variability of the carbon cycle (1 week)
The Mauna Loa CO2 record: many tales it tells
ENSO, drought, disturbances such as fire
other modes of variability
Recent warming induced changes, espeicially in
the arctic region
5. Carbon cycle change on geological timescales (1-2 weeks)
The faint young Sun paradox
Last 500 million years
Glacial-interglacial cycles
Holocene
6. Sources and sinks of anthropogenic carbon (2 weeks)
Fossil fuel emissions
Origin of coal, oil, gas; van
Kevelen Diagram: transformation of biomass to fossil fuel
Fossil fuel and energy use;
Energy vs carbon content
Energy Consumption, economics
and CO2 emissions
Carbon footprint
Land Use: deforestation and regrowth
The 'missing' (residual) carbon sink on land
Sinks in the ocean and a lot more
Closing the carbon budget
7. What's happening to the carbon cycle now and future projections
(1 week)
Recent changes
Projections
Integrated assessment
Carbon-climate feedbacks
8. Carbon management, energy use and options for the future (1 week)
Rnewable energy resources
Carbon sequestration
Geoengineering
Grading
Method
Students will be evaluated based on participation (20%), light
homework/quiz (20%), reading/presentation (30%), and a final project (30%).
Reference books (no
required text book)
Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate, by Han Dolman,
Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (October 24, 2021), 272 pages, ISBN-10 0192845268, ISBN-13 978-0192845269
The Earth System. Lee Kump, James Kasting and Robert Crane. Prentice Hall, 1999.
Biogeochemistry
W.H. Schlesinger (Editor), Academic Press, ISBN 0-08-044642-6
| 6/8/2005
Required reading:
summaries on geological (Sundquist, Ch8.09) and modern (Houghton,
Ch8.10) carbon cycle
Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast (Introduction to
climate change, also a bit carbon cycle)
David Archer, Blackwell Publishing, 2008
The Global Carbon Cycle: Integrating Humans, Climate, and the
Natural World
(Good summaries of current research)
C. B. Field and M. R. Raupach (editors); Island Press, 2004.
ISBN 1559635274
Earth System Science: From Biogeochemical Cycles to Global Changes
(Concepts (chapter by Rodhe), and
specific topics)
by Michael Jacobson, Robert J. Charlson, Henning Rodhe, Gordon H.
Orians
Academic Press; 1st edition (February 15, 2000) ISBN:
012379370X
Earth's Climate: Past and Future
William Ruddiman
Instructor:
Prof. Ning Zeng
Office: ATL 2417
Phone: (301)
405-5377 Fax: (301) 314-9482
Email:
zeng@umd.edu
http://www.atmos.umd.edu/~zeng/
Office Hour
After class, drop by or by appointment
Sample student projects from the
past