The geologic record demonstrates that our environment has changed over a variety of time scales from seconds to billions of years. Subject explores the many ways in which geologic processes control and modify the Earth's environment. Topics include: chemical and physical interactions between the solid Earth, its oceans and atmosphere; the effect of catastrophic events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on the environment; geologic hazards; and our role in modifying the environment through earth resource development. This subject serves as an introduction to subject 12.120, which addresses field applications of these principles in the American Southwest. (Please note: 12.120 is not offered every year.)

This course is designed to be a survey of the various subdisciplines of geophysics (geodesy, gravity, geomagnetism, seismology, and geodynamics) and how they might relate to or be relevant for other planets. No prior background in Earth sciences is assumed, but students should be comfortable with vector calculus, classical mechanics, and potential field theory.

The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now flooded up to the second story. The crab your family has enjoyed every Christmas for as long as you can remember has now become an endangered species. The oceans have changed. In Earth 540, Oceanography for Educators, we explore the mechanisms that lead to sea level rise and ocean acidification. We strive to understand how natural processes such as ocean currents, the gulf-stream, tides, plate tectonics, and the Coriolis Effect, affect our oceans and ocean basins. We then predict how man-made issues such as climate change and overfishing will affect our beloved waters and our livelihoods. Want to see into the future? Then this course is for you!

The Future of Food is an introductory-level science course that emphasizes the challenges facing food systems in the 21st century, and issues of sustainability for agriculture and other food production activities, as well as the challenges posed by food insecurity and modern diets to human health and well-being. Topics covered include introduction to the coupled-system perspective, historical development of food systems, socioeconomic aspects of the food system, interaction of the food system with the Earth's environment including soil, water, biota and climate, and the future of the food system considering potential changes such as in climate, urbanization, and demography.

Human-caused climate change represents one of the great environmental challenges of our time. As it is inextricably linked with issues of energy policy, a familiarity with the fundamentals of climate change is critical for those looking to careers in the energy field. To appreciate the societal, environmental, and economic implications of policies governing greenhouse gas emissions, one must understand the basic underlying science. METEO 469 serves to lay down the fundamental scientific principles behind climate change and global warming. A firm grounding in the science is then used as a launching point for exploring issues involving climate change impacts and mitigation.

Do you want to know more about atmospheric science? This course is designed to give both Meteorology and non-Meteorology students a comprehensive understanding of atmospheric science and the quantitative analytical tools to apply atmospheric science to their own disciplines. Students are introduced to fundamental concepts and applications of atmospheric thermodynamics, radiative transfer, atmospheric chemistry, cloud microphysics, atmospheric dynamics, and the atmospheric boundary layer. These topics are covered broadly but in enough depth to introduce students to the methods atmospheric scientists use to describe and predict atmospheric phenomena. The course is designed to be taken by sophomore meteorology students as well as by students in related disciplines who have an adequate mathematical and physical background.

Diagnostic studies and discussion of their implications for the theory of the structure and general circulation of the Earth's atmosphere. Includes some discussion of the validation and use of general circulation models as atmospheric analogs.

Weather and climate is designed to function as two mini-courses that are highly integrated and interdependent. It is necessary to understand the elements of weather in order to understand climatic systems and outcomes. The course is not taught in a deterministic manner but from an ecological standpoint with a focus upon the interaction of site and situation, basic concepts to Geographers.

This course provides students with a scientific foundation of anthropogenic climate change and an introduction to climate models. It focuses on fundamental physical processes that shape climate (e.g. solar variability, orbital mechanics, greenhouse gases, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and volcanic and soil aerosols) and on evidence for past and present climate change. During the course they discuss material consequences of climate change, including sea level change, variations in precipitation, vegetation, storminess, and the incidence of disease. This course also examines the science behind mitigation and adaptation proposals.

Background for and techniques of visual observation, electronic imaging, and spectroscopy of the Moon, planets, satellites, stars, and brighter deep-space objects. Weekly outdoor observing sessions using 8-inch diameter telescopes when weather permits. Indoor sessions introduce needed skills. Introduction to contemporary observational astronomy including astronomical computing, image and data processing, and how astronomers work. Student must maintain a careful and complete written log which is graded. In this seminar we explore the background and techniques of visual observation and imaging of the Moon, planets, and brighter deep-space objects using 8-inch telescopes. (Some sample images appear in our "photo album".) Telescope work begins with visual observing, then we advance to CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras. Each class observing session meets one evening a week. Whenever weather conditions permit us to observe outdoors we do so! In cloudy weather we'll try some astronomical computing and image processing indoors instead. Either way, virtually all the work for the seminar is done during the evening sessions, so students must attend section every week in order to pass. Past experience has been that if you're really enthusiastic about hands-on out-under-the-sky astronomy, enough to be willing to deal with dressing warmly, tinkering with equipment, and committing one evening a week, 12.409 is great fun! One student wrote, "Unlike most seminars, you will earn your units and, unlike most other MIT courses, you will look forward to doing it!" But we'll be direct: 12.409 is not for everyone, and in past years many whose interest was merely casual found themselves unwilling to devote one entire evening every week to the class. If your interest is only casual then consider whether a more typical astronomy survey subject might be a better choice, since it'll have more outside preparation time that you can rearrange at your discretion and less in-class time that you can't.

Fundamental methods used for exploring the information content of observations related to kinematical and dynamical models. Basic statistics and linear algebra for inverse methods including singular value decompositions, control theory, sequential estimation (Kalman filters and smoothing algorithms), adjoint/Pontryagin principle methods, model testing, etc. Second part focuses on stationary processes, including Fourier methods, z-transforms, sampling theorems, spectra including multi-taper methods, coherences, filtering, etc. Directed at the quantitative combinations of models, with realistic, i.e. sparse and noisy observations.

An introduction to the results and techniques of observations of the ocean in the context of its physical properties and dynamical constraints. Emphasis on large-scale steady circulation and the time-dependent processes that contribute to it. Includes the physical setting of the ocean, atmospheric forcing, application of conservation laws, description of wind-driven and thermohaline circulation, eddy processes, and interpretive techniques.

This course is a laboratory accompaniment to 12.803, Quasi-balanced Circulations in Oceans and Atmospheres. The subject includes analysis of observations of oceanic and atmospheric quasi-balanced flows, computational models, and rotating tank experiments. Student projects illustrate the basic principles of potential vorticity conservation and inversion, Rossby wave propagation, baroclinic instability, and the behavior of isolated vortices.

A survey of the mechanical behavior of rocks in natural geologic situations. Topics: brief survey of field evidence of rock deformation, physics of plastic deformation in minerals, brittle fracture and sliding, and pressure-solution processes. Results of field petrologic and structural studies compared to data from experimental structural geology.

Laboratory or field work in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences. To be arranged with department faculty. Consult with department Education Office. This course introduces students to the basic concepts of Medical Geology/Geochemistry. Medical Geology/Geochemistry is the study of the interaction between abundances of elements and isotopes and the health of humans and plants.

Surveys the distribution, chemical composition, and mineral associations in rocks of the earth's crust and upper mantle, and establishes its relation to tectonic environment. Emphasis is on the use of chemistry and physics to interpret rock forming processes. Topics include: dynamics of crust and mantle melting as preserved in the chemical composition of igneous rocks and minerals, the long-term record of global climate change as preserved in the minerals of sedimentary rocks, and the time-temperature-depth record preserved in minerals of metamorphosed crustal rocks.

This course discusses phase transitions in Earth's interior. Phase transitions in Earth materials at high pressures and temperatures cause the seismic discontinuities and affect the convections in the Earth's interior. On the other hand, they enable us to constrain temperature and chemical compositions in the Earth's interior. However, among many known phase transitions in mineral physics, only a few have been investigated in seismology and geodynamics. This course reviews important papers about phase transitions in mantle and core materials.

The ability to quantify the uncertainty in our models of nature is fundamental to many inference problems in Science and Engineering. In this course, we study advanced methods to represent, sample, update and propagate uncertainty. This is a "hands on" course: Methodology will be coupled with applications. The course will include lectures, invited talks, discussions, reviews and projects and will meet once a week to discuss a method and its applications.

" This course introduces the students to dynamics of large-scale circulations in oceans and atmospheres. Basic concepts include mass and momentum conservation, hydrostatic and geostrophic balance, and pressure and other vertical coordinates. It covers the topics of fundamental conservation and balance principles for large-scale flow, generation and dissipation of quasi-balanced eddies, as well as equilibrated quasi-balanced systems. Examples of oceanic and atmospheric quasi-balanced flows, computational models, and rotating tank experiments can be found in the accompaniment laboratory course 12.804, Large-scale Flow Dynamics Lab."