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Overview

Climatic forcing of seasonal snow, glaciers and avalanches; evaporation; climate change.

The objective of this course is to give students an opportunity to advance their knowledge of field research methods in climatology and to establish a better understanding of the multi-scale atmospheric processes that control our atmosphere, weather and climate. Emphasis in this course is placed on the methods and techniques used to investigate atmospheric processes in mountainous terrain. In particular, students will develop an understanding of how to deploy atmospheric instruments, as well as being given the opportunity to develop their quantitative skills to analyse both observational and modelled climate data. These advanced quantitative methods will be used to better understand how climate change is impacting the variability of seasonal snow, glaciers and avalanches.

About this paper

Paper title Climatology
Subject Geography
EFTS 0.1667
Points 20 points
Teaching period Semester 1 (On campus)
Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) $1,627.83
International Tuition Fees Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website.
Eligibility

The content of this paper assumes that students will have completed one or both of the following climatology-based Geography undergraduate papers: GEOG 286/392 Climatology, GEOG 282/388 Climate Change: Present and Future.
If you have not taken these papers but are still interested in GEOG 460, please contact the course co-ordinator, Professor Nicolas Cullen.

Contact
geography@otago.ac.nz
Teaching staff

Course Co-ordinator: Professor Nicolas Cullen

Paper Structure

The paper structure comprises a combination of lectures, hands-on workshops, field work and student presentations.

Teaching Arrangements

One 3-hour class per week.

Textbooks

There is no set textbook - readings will be set as required during the paper.

Course outline

View the course outline for GEOG 460

Graduate Attributes Emphasised
Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Lifelong learning, Scholarship, Environmental literacy, Information literacy.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.
Learning Outcomes

On completion of this course students will have:

  • an advanced understanding of the theory, processes and current knowledge of how changes in the climate system are impacting seasonal snow, glaciers and avalanches,
  • the ability to set up and deploy instrumentation on automatic weather stations, including knowing how to programme data-loggers used to obtain and store meteorological data
  • developed new quantitative skills to analyse observational and model derived climatological data to assess the impacts of climate change on seasonal snow, glaciers and/or avalanches in alpine terrain, and
  • developed new written, oral and time management skills to ensure a data intensive research project is completed.
Assessment details

This paper is 100% internally assessed.

Overview

Climatic forcing of seasonal snow, glaciers and avalanches; evaporation; climate change.

The objective of this course is to allow students to advance their knowledge of field research methods in climatology and to establish a better understanding of the multi-scale atmospheric processes that control our atmosphere, weather and climate. Emphasis in this course is placed on the methods and techniques used to investigate atmospheric processes in mountainous terrain.

In particular, students will develop an understanding of how to deploy atmospheric instruments, as well as being allowed to develop their quantitative skills to analyse both observational and modelled climate data. These advanced quantitative methods will be used to better understand how climate change is impacting the variability of seasonal snow, glaciers and avalanches.

About this paper

Paper title Climatology
Subject Geography
EFTS 0.1667
Points 20 points
Teaching period Semester 2 (On campus)
Domestic Tuition Fees Tuition Fees for 2027 have not yet been set
International Tuition Fees Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website.
Eligibility

The content of this paper assumes that students will have completed one or both of the following climatology-based Geography undergraduate papers: GEOG 286/392 Climatology, GEOG 282/388 Climate Change: Present and Future.
If you have not taken these papers but are still interested in GEOG 460, please contact the course co-ordinator, Professor Nicolas Cullen.

Contact
geography@otago.ac.nz
Teaching staff

Course Co-ordinator: Professor Nicolas Cullen

Paper Structure

The paper structure comprises a combination of lectures, hands-on workshops, field work and student presentations.

Teaching Arrangements

One 3-hour class per week.

Textbooks

There is no set textbook. Readings will be set as required during the paper.

Course outline

View the course outline for GEOG 460.

Graduate Attributes Emphasised
Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Lifelong learning, Scholarship, Environmental literacy, Information literacy.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.
Learning Outcomes

On completion of this course students will have:

  • An advanced understanding of the theory, processes and current knowledge of how changes in the climate system are impacting seasonal snow, glaciers and avalanches.
  • The ability to set up and deploy instrumentation on automatic weather stations, including knowing how to programme data-loggers used to obtain and store meteorological data.
  • Developed new quantitative skills to analyse observational and model-derived climatological data to assess the impacts of climate change on seasonal snow, glaciers and/or avalanches in alpine terrain.
  • Developed new written, oral and time management skills to ensure a data-intensive research project is completed.
Assessment details

This paper is 100% internally assessed.

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