Lecture 1 Part 1
Course Introduction and Logistics
Hunter Young, the course coordinator, introduces the course and the lecturers involved. Dr. Richard Walton will cover hydrology and fluvial geomorphology, focusing on water movement across the Earth's surface, soil, and slopes. Dr. Daniel Harris will present lectures and practical sessions on coastal processes.
Practical sessions (pracs) are typically run by Hunter Young. The first meeting point is outside Chamberlain Building (Building 35), down Union Road, five minutes before the prac starts. Emails will be sent if weather conditions are unsuitable. The course aims to provide a deeper understanding of the Earth's atmosphere system and its interactions.
Course Content and Structure
The course builds upon GEO1100 and Earth1000, incorporating physical systems science. It includes a sequential learning process from second-year courses like geomorphology and biogeography, to third-year environmental management (EMVM) courses and two-unit research courses. These research courses offer hands-on experience with basic research under academic supervision, culminating in a poster and research report.
The ECP (Electronic Course Profile) details the course structure. Lectures are supported by practical and tutorial sessions, emphasizing hands-on skills development and deeper thinking about the presented content. A field trip to Lake Marrone in the border ranges may occur in early May if there are sufficient student numbers (18-20 students needed). The field trip cost is approximately , covering transportation, meals, and accommodation.
Practical Skills and Assessment
The first three practical sessions focus on mapping, measuring, and quantifying physical characteristics using surveying techniques (total stations and GPS). This provides an understanding of data collection and its limitations, relevant to consultancy reports on topics like beach erosion or waste downfall impacts. Students will also analyze and interpret sediments to understand environmental history and processes, linking to lectures by Richard and Dan.
Statistical analysis of data includes calculating return periods for events like floods. The limitations and uncertainties in projecting magnitude and frequency of events will be examined, considering implications for infrastructure design, planning, insurance, and premiums. Lab sessions will involve studying sediment transport in flumes. There are two practical classes and students are expected to be there; two classes are organized to allow a student to make up for a missed class.
The course assessment includes a 2,000-word essay due before the mid-semester break (check Blackboard and the ECP). A field report (1,000-1,200 words) is required for field trip participants, while non-participants complete a literature review. The examination accounts for 50% of the final grade.
Completing at least seven of the nine practical sessions is expected. Attending lectures and participating in practicals leads to better learning outcomes and grades. The analysis shows that students who turn up to class and participate in pracs usually achieve one full grade point higher than those that don't.
Academic Integrity and AI
Academic integrity is paramount. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited in this course. Detection of AI use will result in failure of the assessment. Turnitin is used to detect AI-generated content. Submissions with high percentages of AI-generated content (e.g., 50%, 80%, or 100%) will be reported to the integrity offices.
Environmental Systems Overview
Environmental Systems is essentially physical geography, studying the physical environment and the interactions between its systems (geomorphic, hydrological, climate, oceans, ice sheets). It also considers humanity's impact on the physical environment and vice versa, particularly concerning population growth, resource demand, climate change, and global warming.
Understanding systems like mountain, fluvial, and arid systems is vital for making informed decisions about their management through policy design and implementation. Despite not being a core course in the BEM (Bachelor of Environmental Management), knowledge of the physical environment is crucial for effective management, preventing adverse outcomes for both the environment and people.
Climate Zones and Classification
The course explores climate zones, reflecting geographic location, latitude, proximity to water bodies, and altitude changes. It also introduces the concept of climate states in large continents like Australia. Classifications like the Koppen Climate Classification Scheme use the climate's imprint on biological systems (flora distribution) to indicate the mean climate of a region.
The five main climate zones are tropical, arid, temperate, continental, and polar. Subdivisions provide more granularity, as shown in the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's classification based on the Koppen system. This classification uses maximum temperature, mean annual rainfall, mean maximum temperature, and mean minimum temperature, gridded and based on a 30-year climatology (1961-1990). Changes in climate may shift these boundaries, impacting flow regimes and coastal processes in different regions. A re grid from 1990 to 2020 would be very useful to confirm this fact.
Knowledge of climate zones informs the rest of the course content (Hydrological systems, Desert streams, Alpine regions, Coastal Processes), with distinct climates driving different processes in various regions (subtropics, tropics, mid-latitudes).