Biogeochemistry of the Climate System
Courses in biogeochemistry of the climate system enable you to understand the processes governing the major global cycles of biogeochemical matter between the atmosphere, ocean, and land. They include an explanation of the geological and biological causes (whether human-induced or extraterrestrial) of environmental or climate change on a time scale from a few to millions of years. Lectures explain the interaction of biogeochemical processes in the climate system and highlight the importance of these processes on all temporal and spatial scales.
Courses 1. Semester:
Global Biogeochemical Cycles and the Climate System (Compulsory, 4.5 Credit Points)
Learning Outcomes: Students understand the processes controlling the major global cycles of biogeochemical matter between the atmosphere, ocean and land. The students know the interactions between biogeochemical processes and the climate system.
Contents: Biogeochemical processes relevant on the global scale. This includes the explanation of hydrologic, atmospheric, extraterrestrial, geological, biological, and human causes environmental change on time scales of tens, thousands, and millions of years.
Educational Concept: Lectures (3 SWS) and exercises (1 SWS)
Course Lecturers: J. Hartmann, L. Kutzbach
Chemistry of Natural Waters (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to understand the important processes governing the chemical composition of natural waters (surface waters and groundwaters)
Curriculum: basic hydrochemical principles, including equilibrium thermodynamics, activity-concentration relationships, the carbonate system, and pH control on the composition of waters; basic principles of clay minerals and cation exchange, organic compounds in natural waters, redox equilibria, redox conditions in natural waters, kinetics, weathering, and water chemistry
Courses combine theory (e.g., thermodynamics, carbonate system (CO2), dissolution/precipitation of matter, physics of water-air gas exchange, etc.) with case studies from the literature.
Teaching format: Lectures (2 credit hours per week); discussion (based on representative examples)
Lecturer: J. Hartmann
Aerosols (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to understand the role of aerosols in the climate system
Curriculum: Aerosols is divided in 6 main topics:
- introduction and terminology
- atmospheric aerosol sources
- impacts of aerosols on climate, visibility, and human health
- mathematical description of aerosols: size distributions, formation, and growth processes
- 3-dimensional modeling
- observations: in-situ measurements, ground-based and satellite-based remote sensing
We will discuss anthropogenic aerosols and natural aerosols, e.g., volcanic ash and sulfate in detail.
Teaching format: Lectures, seminar, exercises (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: B. Langmann
The Role of Biota in the Climate System (elective, 3 ETCS)
Objective: to understand biologically-driven, climate-relevant processes and mechanisms; to identify and describe feedback loops in which the biota plays an important role
Curriculum: principles of biological processes involved in climate-relevant mechanisms; explanations of biologically-induced changes of different Earth System components (hydrosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere) and the mechanisms involved in climate feedback loops; examples from both the marine and terrestrial systems of the different feedback loops
Teaching format: lectures (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: I. Hense
Concepts for Modelling Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to be able to describe contemporary questions in Earth sciences for which modelling tools are a key to solutions; to understand different mathematical modelling concepts, and their limitations, and related types of information and data that scientists use to address questions in Earth sciences; to apply dynamic or statistical modelling to address a specific question in Earth sciences; to visualize and characterize observations and model results; to evaluate and discuss model results based on observations and uncertainty estimates
Curriculum: Many questions in Earth and environmental sciences today are about ecosystem dynamics at a large spatial scale or in the past or future. To address such questions, models need to be used to interpolate/extrapolate and interpret observations, or to perform theoretical experiments hardly possible in the field or laboratory. This course introduces modelling concepts and individual steps in practice. Rather than providing a comprehensive overview of all kind of terrestrial ecosystem processes, the course focuses on modelling concepts using a few exemplary biogeochemical processes, such as heterotrophic respiration or gross primary production.
Teaching format: lectures and exercises (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Christian Beer
Courses 2. Semester:
Soil, Water, and Vegetation Processes and Their Coupling to the Atmosphere (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to understand the biogeochemical and biophysical processes in soils and the vegetation and their interaction with the atmosphere; to obtain a sound scientific basis for both measurement- and model-based studies of the coupled processes of soils, vegetation, and atmosphere
Curriculum: atmospheric boundary layer characteristics, wind and turbulence mass and energy exchange; aeolian transport and deposition of elements; soil energy budget; soil water dynamics; plant- soil- microorganism interactions; soil organic matter processes, organic matter humification and mineralization, heterotrophic respiration; soil methane cycle: production, oxidation, and soil- atmosphere transport mechanisms; lateral transport of carbon and nutrients; soil-vegetation-atmosphere water and carbon exchange processes, evapotranspiration, photosynthesis, autotrophic respiration; instrumentation for biometeorological measurements (e.g., closed chambers, eddy covariance method, isotope analyses).
Teaching format: lectures with short group exercises (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturers: L. Kutzbach, C. Knoblauch
Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to understand and interpret spatial and temporal distribution patterns of marine ecosystem variables, including time series and distribution maps of biological and physico- chemical variables in the ocean; to be able to identify and describe the underlying processes leading to the variability in the biological fields
Curriculum: factors and processes regulating marine primary production and transfer to higher trophic levels; the spatial and temporal distribution patterns and variability in biological, nutrient, and physical fields in the ocean and the interaction between the biota and its physico-chemical environment; examples include coastal regions, upwelling systems, fronts, and oligotrophic oceans
Teaching format: lectures (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: I. Hense
Selected Topics of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to be able to present the results of others’ scientific work; to become acquainted with cutting-edge research topics in the field of biological oceanography/marine ecosystems; to be able to identify the major gaps in current research
Curriculum: presentation and discussion of topical papers from prestigious peer-reviewed journals in the field of biological oceanography and marine ecosystems; articles cover a wide range of topics and address advances in research in the last 5 years
Teaching format: seminar (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: I. Hense
Soils and Land Use of Wetlands (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to understand the genesis, properties, and functions of hydromorphic soils of marshes and peatlands in the coastal lowlands of Northern Germany; to develop understanding of how landscape development, geomorphology, hydrology, and land use are interlinked with the diversity and distribution of wetland soils; to be able to evaluate the ecological and economic functions of wetlands and their response to land use and climate changes
Curriculum: landscape development of the coastal lowlands of Northern Germany; geologic processes during the Pleistocene and Holocene; geomorphology of marshes and river floodplains; land-use history, diking, and agriculture; soils of tidal flats and different marsh types; soils and vegetation of bogs and fens; German, US, and international soil classification systems; ecological and economic functions; impact of past and present land use and climatic changes
Teaching format: 3 full excursion days and a half-day seminar, practical groupwork (6-8 students each)
Lecturers: E.-M. Pfeiffer, L. Kutzbach
Field Course on Soil-Atmosphere Coupling (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to advance experience with soil-scientific field measurement campaigns, gas flux measurements, and data analysis for investigating soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions
Curriculum: soil-scientific survey and description of reference soil profiles, soil gas concentration profile measurements, closed-chamber approach to measure land-atmosphere fluxes of trace gases, flux calculation, basic statistical data analysis
Teching format: field work (2 full days) and laboratory practice (half day) plus seminar (1 full day).
Lecturers: L. Kutzbach, C. Knoblauch
Courses 3. Semester:
Marine Biogeochemical and Ecosystem Modeling (elective, 6 ECTS)
Objective: to be able to use the modelling language, to select the most appropriate methods and approaches for a number of specific applications, to formulate simple ecosystem models, to analyze and present the results; to be able to identify and evaluate model strengths and weaknesses
Curriculum: the basics of model structures, including factors and processes generally considered in aquatic ecosystem and biogeochemical models; focus on plankton dynamics: growth and mortality processes of phyto- and zooplankton; examples of biogeochemical models based on carbon and nitrogen
Teaching format: Lectures (1 credit hour per week), exercises (1 credit hour per week), seminars (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: I. Hense
Climate Engineering: Negative Emission Technologies and Other Options (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to become acquainted with options to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere, an increasingly important issue in climate change discourse
Curriculum: Climate engineering, the deliberate and large-scale intervention in Earth’s climatic system, has been discusssed as a way to battle climate change for several years. We will address this highly topical issue by introducing several potential options, with a focus on negative emission technologies. We will also touch upon strategies for solar radiation management. We will look at the benefits and side effects from local to global scales for matter and energy fluxes. Finally, we will also address ethical issues such as governance, moral hazards, and intergenerational justice.
Teaching format: lectures (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: T. Amann
Using the Eddy Covariance Method for Analyzing Land-Atmosphere Fluxes (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: to understand the theoretical principles of the micrometeorological eddy covariance approach; to understand how an eddy covariance flux measurement system is set up and maintained and how data is recorded; to be able to handle and process the complex and massive rawdata streams to derive the energy and matter fluxes; to gain the skills required to apply the micrometeorological eddy covariance approach for the analysis of soil-vegetation-atmosphere fluxes of energy, water, and carbon on the landscape scale
Curriculum: introduction to the micrometeorological eddy covariance theory; requirements for instrumentation and measurement site; set-up and maintenance of an eddy covariance flux measurement system; introduction to the flux calculation software EdiRe; basic flux calculation from rawdata streams; flux corrections; data visualization; quality control; application of eddy covariance data for the investigation of land-atmosphere exchange fluxes of energy, water and carbon
Teaching format: seminar (1 credit hour per week), exercises including a field trip (1 credit hour per week)
Lecturers: L. Kutzbach, N. Rößger
Permafrost Soils and Landscapes in the Climate System (elective, 3 credit points)
Objective: to understand permafrost landscapes, soils, and vegetation and their role in the climate system; to understand periglacial and cryopedogenetic processes, and learn related observation and modelling techniques; to improve understanding of environmental and climatic changes in the arctic region; to obtain the skills to evaluate ecosystem functions and resources of permafrost landscapes
Curriculum: high-latitude terrestrial processes in periglacial landscapes; permafrost and active layer processes; soils of different permafrost landscapes; cryosols in the international soil classifications; patterned-ground processes, frost-action processes, cryoturbation; tundra vegetation, boreal forests and peatlands, tree- and shrubline dynamics; carbon in permafrost soils and sediments; role of high-latitude terrestrial systems in the global climate system; impact of climate and land use change on arctic and boreal ecosystems and permafrost soils; observational versus model results of permafrost changes due to climate change; land-atmosphere feedbacks specific to permafrost landscapes
Teaching format: lectures (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturers: C. Beer, L. Kutzbach
Application of Stable Isotopes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (elective, 3 ECTS)
Objective: Students will be familiar with the potential of stable isotope measurements for studying element fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. They will be able to interpret natural carbon isotope signatures in soils, vegetation and the climate relevant trace gases CO and methane. They will also be able to use 13C-tracers for quantifying carbon turnover of different carbon pools in the environment.
Curriculum: introduction to the fundamentals of stable isotope biogeochemistry; laboratory experiments for quantifying carbon fluxes in the environment, based on natural abundance measurements and isotope tracers; calculation of CO2 and methane-fluxes from different carbon pools
Teaching format: practical laboratory course complemented by introductory lectures and exercises on data analysis (2 credit hours per week)
Lecturer: C. Knoblauch
Land Processes and Carbon Feedbacks in the Earth System Models (elective, 3 ECTS)
Learning Outcomes: Students have theoretical knowledge and practical skills in terrestrial ecosystem modeling and feedbacks between vegetation and climate and understand and are able to utilize terrestrial biosphere models used for future climate projections.
Contents: The course starts with introduction into main biological and biophysical processes: photosynthesis, land surface hydrology and biophysics, carbon cycle, and plant ecology. The main focus is given on current state-of-the-art in modeling of these processes within Earth System models. Examples of topics include modeling of landuse effects on terrestrial ecosystem and biogeochemistry; modeling of vegetation dynamics under changed climate; assessment of feedbacks between terrestrial ecosystems and climate on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Biogeophysical and biogeochemical effects of land cover and landuse change are analyzed for future climate as well for several chosen paleo climates.
Educational Concept: Lectures (2 SWS) and practical exercises (1 SWS)
Course Lecturer: V. Brovkin