Course Identification

The course is intended for students from chemistry and biology but can be attended by any WIS student. The Global Carbon Cycle discusses this essential biogeochemical driver that links the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere and Earth's climate system. In this graduate level primer for students from different backgrounds, we will review and discuss the many ways the global carbon cycle is operating on different time and spatial scales. From the million-year time scales, where feedbacks in the carbon cycle stabilize Earth's climate and oxygen concentrations, to the human time scale of minutes to decades, where the carbon cycle has been dampening climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel into the oceans and the land biosphere. In this framework we will explore the interactions of biological, chemical, and physical processes, with emphasis on the contemporary C cycle on land. Finally we will attempt to address questions of the role of the carbon cycle in the current global warming and other trends in global change.

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding of the concept of Earth System Science.
2. Describe scaling of processes from cellular to global scales.
3. Recognize the different time scales of operation of the carbon cycle (from seconds to million years).
4. Link between the operation of the carbon cycle to the climate on Earth.

Will be provided in the course website.