Learning outcomes

• a broad understanding of the geology of, and the physical processes operating in the Arctic and Antarctic

• how to identify these processes affect the activities of human, populations

• insight into the way in which polar politics impinge on economic development of polar regions

• how global environmental change will influence the polar regions, and vice versa

• an ability to digest a wide range of factual material and produce a typed, fully referenced and illustrated report

• their capability of preparing a poster to a high professional standard using IT resources

Aims

• To provide a summary of the physical processes operating in both polar regions

• To understand the factors controlling these processes;

• To examine the response of human populations to the polar environments, both historically and at the present day;

• To appreciate the significance of polar regions in the context of global environmental change;

• To analyse the political framework under which scientific and commercial activity takes place.

Content

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.

Transferable skills

2. Personal 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. 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.

Reading Lists

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5