University of Colorado Boulder

Polar Peril

This course is part of Arctic Meltdown Specialization

Mark C. Serreze

Instructor: Mark C. Serreze

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Beginner level
No prior experience required
6 hours to complete
3 weeks at 2 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Beginner level
No prior experience required
6 hours to complete
3 weeks at 2 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

  • Identify the rapid environmental changes unfolding in the Arctic, the processes underlying these changes, and how they are related to each other

  • Evaluate and critique the evidence for past climate changes in the Arctic and projections of change through the 21 st century

Details to know

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Assessments

5 assignments

Taught in English

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This course is part of the Arctic Meltdown Specialization
When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
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There are 5 modules in this course

The Arctic is home to some of our planet's most visible indicators of climate change and we'll learn all about them in this module. Notable among these are the shrinking Arctic sea ice cover and the stronger warming of the Arctic compared to the rest of the globe, a phenomenon known as "Arctic Amplification". We'll then look at how the Arctic permafrost - perennially frozen ground - is warming and thawing. Finally, attention will turn to a direct threat to Arctic residents - coastal erosion and how it is tied to sea ice loss, ocean warming and warming permafrost.

What's included

5 videos1 assignment

The Arctic is home to the Greenland ice sheet, one of the planet's two ice sheets (the other is the Antarctic ice sheet) as well as many ice caps and glaciers. With few exception, these ice bodies are losing mass and contributing to sea level rise. Here we'll learn all about the Arctic's shrinking land ice, including the complexity of processes affecting the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet, and the sad story of the disappearance of the two small ice caps that your instructor studied back in the early 1980s.

What's included

4 videos1 assignment

Here, we'll discover how changes in the Arctic are having cascading effects not just within the Arctic, but beyond the region. There is is evidence, albeit still controversial, that the strong warming of the Arctic, known as Arctic amplification, can influence weather patterns in middle latitudes. We'll see that the Arctic itself is experiencing extreme weather events. We'll also explore how treeless, windswept tundra is being taken over by shrubs, and how the loss of sea ice is is having impacts cascading through the marine food chain from phytoplankton to top predators like the polar bear.

What's included

4 videos1 assignment

A key part of understanding recent climate change in the Arctic, as well as where the Arctic may be headed, is to understand climates of the past - the realm of paleoclimatology. Here, we'll learn about the science of paleoclimatology, different types of paleoclimate data and some of the causes of past climate changes. The Arctic turns out to be a rich course of paleoclimate data. Then we'll focus on climates from the past million years up to the modern period, noting the tremendous changes that have occurred in the Arctic and elsewhere, setting the stage for a peek into the future.

What's included

4 videos1 assignment

This week, we'll first learn that while climate models are a key tools for making projections about the future Arctic, they also have biases and uncertainties. We'll then take a look at projected changes in temperature, precipitation and sea ice. We'll see that the Arctic is expected to continue to warm more strongly than the rest of the planet, that Arctic precipitation is likely to increase and that the sea ice cover will continue to shrink. However, it will also become clear that the magnitude of these changes will very much depend on human behavior - specifically, future rates of fossil fuel burning. Finally, we'll look at the permafrost carbon feedback, and its potential to lead to further warming of the planet.

What's included

4 videos1 assignment1 discussion prompt

Instructor

Mark C. Serreze
University of Colorado Boulder
3 Courses2,979 learners

Offered by

Recommended if you're interested in Environmental Science and Sustainability

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