Module Identifier | GG23710 | ||
Module Title | POLAR ENVIRONMENTS | ||
Academic Year | 2002/2003 | ||
Co-ordinator | Professor Michael J Hambrey | ||
Semester | Semester 2 | ||
Course delivery | Lecture | 10 Hours 5 x 2 hours; current issues | |
Seminars / Tutorials | Two or three 3-hour sessions: 'mini-conference' comprising talks and posters by students. | ||
Assessment | Semester Assessment | Continuous Assessment: Essay of 2500 words plus figures and references from a choice of six topics. | 100% |
Supplementary Assessment | 2 hour written examination. | 100% |
1. Introduction
(i) Arctic/Antarctic contrasts
(ii) Historical background and exploration
(iii) Importance of polar regions
2. Geological evolution:
(i) Arctic (northward drift and tectonic fragmentation)
(ii) Antarctic (long-term polar positioning and the core of Gondwana)
(iii) Evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet
3. Present-day environments
(i) The cryosphere (glaciers and sea ice; the periglacial zone)
(ii) The geosphere (earth surface processes)
4. Polar politics and environmental management
5. Role of Polar regions in global environmental change (climatic change; sea level fluctuations; atmospheric pollution.
6. Economic resources
NB. The arrangement of topics is not necessarily indicative of the final balance of this module. Note also that the lecture sessions are intended to provide supplementary material on special themes, to support the core material which is on the module website.
2. Personal and group initiative will be encouraged. Students will be asked to choose their own polar topic and search out relevant material, although staff will be willing to provide some guidance. Some suitable materials can be down-loaded from the module
website.
3. Central to the poster presentation is working as a team (say 2 to 4 people). Each group will need to identify their own responsibilities.
4. Other transferable skills include use of bibliographic databases, use of Internet to examine work of polar organisations, computer-based presentation of poster materials and scientific synthesis.