Global Water Cycle

Catalog description

The goal of this class is to understand the physical principles and processes of the global water cycle. Topics include the climatic importance of water, circulation of atmospheric water vapor, formation of rain and snow, availability of soil water, plant-water relations, mass balance of glaciers, and ongoing and expected changes in the water cycle. Additional goals: become familiar with the current research literature, practice clear and concise science writing, and to use simple programming in Python to plot and analyze actual data sets. Students are expected to have taken at least one geology-related course. Programming experience recommended, but not necessary.