ESCI 361 - Modeling the Earth

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as ENST 361) Computer models are powerful tools in the Earth and Environmental Sciences for generating and testing hypotheses about how the Earth system functions and for allowing simulation of processes in places inaccessible to humans (e.g., Earth’s deep interior), too slow to permit observation (e.g., erosion driven uplift of mountains ranges), or too large to facilitate construction of physical models (e.g., Earth’s climate system). Taking readings from the scientific literature, we create and then perform experiments with simple computer models, using the STELLA iconographic box-modeling software package. Topics include the global phosphorus cycle, Earth’s radiative balance with the sun and resulting temperature, the flow of ice in glaciers, and the role of life in moderating Earth’s climate. Toward the end of the semester, students apply the skills they have acquired to a modeling project of their own devising. Ms. Menking.

Prerequisite: one 200-level course in the natural sciences.

Satisfies the college requirement for quantitative reasoning.

One 4-hour classroom/laboratory period.