Examples of Course Projects
Each graduate student taking this class for credit should decide on a term-project. We ask for a 10-page written report (maximum length), and a 20 minute oral presentation to the class before the end of term. Undergraduates do not have to give an oral report (but may, if they wish) and a six-page paper is acceptable. Projects can expand on something covered in class, or be some climate-relevant project not touched upon. In the past, most such projects have been reviews of some interesting topics. A few students have succeeded in doing an original piece of work, but this is certainly not a requirement.
Previous topics include:
Orography, tectonic uplift, and climate
The history and implications of dansgaard-oeschger events
The closure of the panama gateway and its effect on climate
A box model approach to the coupled system
Ocean abyssal circulation and mixing: A historical development
Source contributions to fine aerosol mass as determined from receptor modeling
The indian summer monsoon and the effects of the tibetan plateau
Possible microphysical impacts of aerosols on the climate of the last glacial maximum
Energy balance model for long term climate study
Predicting regional climate change
The evolution of climate on venus and its relation to earth
Investigating thermohaline circulation rearrangements with a simple climate box model
The north atlantic oscillation and dependence upon atmospheric sensitivity to SST anomalies
Sub-saharan drought
Climate change and its influence on babylonian civilization
Other Possibilities (Not Intended to Restrict Your Choice)
Is ethanol an energy source or sink?
History of solar radiation
Chemistry of the early atmosphere
Carbon dioxide and climate
Evidence of glacial cycles over earth history
Relation of continental configuration to inferred climate state
Long-term (102-104 yr) variability of ENSO
Global heat budget
Climate change under a cometary impact (Nuclear Winter, etc.)
The snowball earth hypothesis and problems
Glacier dynamics, mountain and continental
History of sea level: Modern and over geological time
Mechanics and chemistry of air-sea exchange of properties
Human evolution and climate change
The 100KY climate time scale
Methane hydrates and abrupt climate change
The indonesian throughflow and climate impacts
Was the little ice age global?
Tropical temperatures during the last glacial maximum
How does one initiate an ice Age?
Heinrich events: Cause and effect
Abrupt climate change in the paleo record
Evolving climate chronologies: How well do we know paleoclimate age estimates and how does the uncertainty affect our interpretation of climate mechanisms?