| source Caltech (X) |
level |
department Environmental Science and Engineering (X) |
An introduction to the array of major scientific and engineering issues related to environmental quality on a local, regional, and global scale. Fundamental aspects of major environmental problems will be addressed with an overall focus on the dynamic interplay among the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere. Underlying scientific principles based on biology, chemistry, and physics will be presented. Engineering solutions to major environmental problems will be explored. Not offered on a pass/fail basis. Instructor: Staff.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Independent research on current environmental problems; laboratory or field work is required. A written report is required for each term of registration. Graded pass/fail. Instructor: Staff.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Special courses of reading, problems, or research for first-year graduate students or qualified undergraduates. Graded pass/fail. Instructor: Staff.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
A discussion course that focuses on current research by ESE faculty, and open research questions in the field. Required for first-year ESE graduate students. Instructor: Wennberg.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Principles of inorganic and physical chemistry applied to natural and engineered aquatic systems. Biogeochemical processes controlling the major ion composition of aquatic systems and the behavior of the trace inorganic constituents of such systems are examined. Fundamental aspects of thermodynamics and quantitative description of the composition of natural waters are stressed. Instructor: Adkins.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
For course description, see Geological and Planetary Sciences.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Case studies are used to illustrate the effects of biogeochemical processes on the composition of ground and surface waters. Systems to be examined include natural waters subject to varying levels of perturbations as a result of human activities, and engineered systems, such as constructed wetlands or water treatment systems. Quantitative equilibrium and kinetic modeling are emphasized. Not offered 2008–09.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
For course description, see Geological and Planetary Sciences.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Global change on time-scales of years to centuries.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Radiative transfer and the greenhouse effect. Scattering and absorption by gases, clouds, and aerosols. Feedbacks due to water vapor, clouds, ice, and vegetation. Chemistry of greenhouse gases. Climates of the past. Ice ages. The global-warming debate. Economic and political aspects of climate change. Instructor: Wennberg.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Large-scale motions in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Effects of planetary rotation and density stratification. Observing systems and data assimilation. Numerical weather prediction. Climate modeling. Parameterizations. Dynamical aspects of El Niño, global warming, and the ozone hole. Instructor: Ingersoll.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Global biogeochemical cycles, fluxes, and reservoirs in the solid earth, oceans, biosphere, and atmosphere. The hydrologic cycle, weathering and erosion, soil formation, nutrient cycling and limitation, ecosystem function and metrics, photosynthesis and primary production, heterotropic recycling, carbon cycle dynamics, atmospheric trace gases, and stable- isotope tracers. Variability in biogeochemical cycles over Earth history, and recent modification by human activities. Instructor: Sessions.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
For course description, see Geological and Planetary Sciences.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
The basic physics of absorption and scattering by molecules, aerosols, and clouds. Theory of radiative transfer. Band models and correlated-k distributions and scattering by cloud and aerosol particles. Solar insolation, thermal emission, heating rates, and applications to climate and remote sensing. Instructor: Yung.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Fluid dynamics of the atmosphere and oceans, beginning with linear wave dynamics and wave–mean flow interaction theory and leading to theories of the maintenance of large-scale circulations. Topics include barotropic Rossby waves, flow-over topography; shallow-water dynamics and potential vorticity; quasi-geostrophic theory; barotropic and baroclinic instability; wave–mean flow interaction; maintenance of the global-scale circulation of the atmosphere; structure of wind-driven ocean circulation. Instructor: Richardson.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
For course description, see Geological and Planetary Sciences.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
For course description, see Geological and Planetary Sciences.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
For course description, see Chemical Engineering.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
Introduction to modern laboratory techniques and basic sampling principles in environmental water, air, and biological analysis. Modular experiments will address sampling, measurement, and data analysis based around a region of local environmental interest. Regions may include the Arroyo Seco watershed, San Gabriel Mountains, or Caltech campus. Principles of basic experimental design, laboratory technique, elementary statistics, and scientific writing will be emphasized. Instructors: Leadbetter, Flagan. Not offered 2008–09.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
A course on growth and functions in the prokaryotic cell. Topics covered: growth, transport of small molecules, protein excretion, membrane bioenergetics, energy metabolism, motility, chemotaxis, global regulators, and metabolic integration. Instructor: Leadbetter.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
A course on the metabolic diversity of microorganisms. Basic thermodynamic principles governing energy conservation will be discussed, with emphasis placed on photosynthesis and respiration. Students will be exposed to genetic, genomic, and biochemical techniques that can be used to elucidate the mechanisms of cellular electron transfer underlying these metabolisms. Not offered 2008–09.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
For course description, see Geological and Planetary Sciences.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
A detailed course about chemical transformation in Earth’s atmosphere. Kinetics, spectroscopy, and thermodynamics of gas- and aerosol-phase chemistry of the stratosphere and troposphere; sources, sinks, and lifetimes of trace atmospheric species; stratospheric ozone chemistry; oxidation mechanisms in the troposphere. Instructors: Seinfeld, Wennberg.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
A lecture and discussion course about active research in atmospheric chemistry. Potential topics include halogen chemistry of the stratosphere and troposphere; aerosol formation in remote environments; coupling of dynamics and photochemistry; development and use of modern remote-sensing and in situ instrumentation. Graded pass/fail. Not offered 2008–09.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page
A lecture and discussion course on current research in atmosphere and ocean dynamics. Topics covered vary from year to year and may include geostrophic turbulence, atmospheric convection and cloud dynamics, wave dynamics and large-scale circulations in the tropics, middle-atmosphere dynamics, dynamics of El Niño and the southern oscillation, maintenance of the ocean thermocline, and dynamics of the southern ocean. Instructor: Schneider.
Score: 11.48039 Details | Listing | Web page