The Role of High Latitudes Oceans in Climate Change

This course introduces to the paleoclimatic history of the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions during the Cenozoic and Pleistocene, which includes the tectonic development and its impact on the ocean circulation and high-latitude biota, as well as the development of polar ice sheets and their effects on sea level and global thermal differentiation. Lab exercises provide an introduction to high-latitude sediments on the other hand.

- to obtain a basic understanding of the physics of the climate system with a special emphasis on high latitude processes
- to become able to assess the opportunities and limitations of (paleo-) climate data
- to acquire essential skills in (paleo-) climate data analysis

oral exam

oral exam

Hartmann, Dennis L.: Global Physical Climatology. Elsevier, 2nd edition, 498 pp., 2016.
Open University: Ocean Circulation. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2nd revised edition, 286 pp., 2004.
Ruddiman, W.F.: Earth’s climate: past and future. W.H. Freeman, 3rd revised edition, 464 p., 2013.

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11th SWS: The modern polar oceans & recent climate change
12th SWS: The long-term Meso-Cenozoic climate change: From Greenhouse to Icehouse
13th SWS: Late Neogene ice sheet & sea ice history and its relationship to (global) climate change
14th SWS: LGM-Deglacial-Holocene short-term climate & environmental variability