About this course
Course description
This course is a lecture, taught at the University of Bern in the Masters program for Geography and for Climate Sciences students. It follows the online textbook Land in the Earth System.
The course advances the introduction of fundamental processes governing terrestrial biosphere functioning. Standard and simple demonstration models will be introduced and applied for demonstrating terrestrial carbon cycle functioning and and Earth system dynamics. The course builds on Land in the Earth System 1 and deepens its scope, while covering largely the same thematic ground - from the global carbon cycle, land-climate interactions, ecohydrology, to Earth system dynamics. In addition, scientific methods, data, and research challenges will be discussed.
The course is organised into a mix of lectures, self-study, and student presentations. Lecture notes containing all relevant content will be made available. No podcasts will be recorded.
Learning objectives
- Identify the controls on water, carbon, and nutrient dynamics across the Earth.
- Describe Earth system research challenges related to the terrestrial biosphere.
- Predict responses of terrestrial ecosystem processes environmental change based on conceptual, empirical, and mathematical models.
Target audience and prerequisites
Master students in Geography and Climate Science. Contents of Land in the Earth System 1 (LES 1) are the basis. Students that did not take LES 1 are expected to learn its contents through self-study prior to the start of LES 2 using the online textbook Land in the Earth System.
The lead for this course is by by Prof. Benjamin Stocker and co-taught with Dr. Laura Marqués and Dr. Fabrice Lacroix. The website is a product of the group for Geocomputation and Earth Observation, Institute of Geography, University of Bern.
