EARTHSS 3 LEC A: OCEANOGRAPHY (42005)

Class Information

Lectures: Tu Th 9-11:50 AM MSTB 118

Instructor: Scot Parker, sparker@uci.edu

Office Hours: Tu Th 11:50 AM - 12:50 PM MSTB 118 or by appointment

TA: Kevin Wright, ktwright@uci.edu

Office Hours: Wed 9-10AM Croul Hall 3103

 

Communication

The course e-mail list will be used to make announcements and communicate with you so please ensure that you check your UCI e-mail address at least once every day. When sending e-mails to me or to the TA please put ESS3 in the subject line and please make sure to include your name. I will answer e-mails within 48 hours, unless the information requested can be found on the class website.

 

Course Description

Oceanography examines the circulation of the world oceans and ocean chemistry as it relates to river, hydrothermal vent, and atmospheric inputs. Geological features, the wide variety of biological organisms, and global climate changes, such as ocean warming and ocean acidification, are also studied.

 

Course Materials

Textbook (required):  Trujillo and Thurman. Essentials of Oceanography (9th, 10th, 11th or 12th edition), Pearson. You DO NOT need to bring the textbook to class with you and you DO NOT need access to the accompanying online Mastering Oceanography materials. While the 12th edition is available from the UCI Bookstore, there are MUCH cheaper second-hand copies available from online booksellers. A limited number of copies of the 11th and 12th editions are also available for 2-hour loans at the UCI science library.

i>Clicker (required):  i>Clickers will be used to award participation points so please obtain an i>Clicker or an i>Clicker2 or the REEF app and bring it to each class, including the first class. Please register your i>Clicker prior to the first class. We will be using i>Clicker frequency AA.

 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Explain how the world’s oceans originated and continue to form and disappear
2. Describe general patterns of ocean circulation and use these patterns to explain global patterns of climate
3. Describe the chemical composition of sea water and how this influences stratification and deep ocean circulation
4. Explain how and why phenomena such as El Niño and hurricanes occur
5. Interpret charts and graphs of tidal information to draw conclusions about tidal patterns
6. Explain how the ocean influences the shape of our coastlines
7. Describe the different broad categories of marine life and explain how human impacts threaten the ocean ecosystems and how this in turn can affect the earth system
8. Read and analyze plots, graphs, and tables of scientific data and draw sound conclusions
9. Identify and use appropriate quantitative tools to analyze ocean processes
10. Apply models of ocean processes to make quantitative predictions about the future ocean

 

How to Succeed in ESS 3

1. Attend class! Show up prepared and on time. All material that will appear on the midterm and final will be covered in class. The reading is assigned to reinforce topics covered in class. You will gain the most benefit from the textbook if you do the reading prior to class.
2. Participate - ask questions during lecture, attend office hours.
3. Take ownership of your learning - examine the learning objectives at the beginning of each lecture and ensure you are capable of meeting those objectives.
4. Make sure you understand concepts. Exams focus much more on student understanding than on rote memorization.

 

Important Dates

First day of class: Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Midterm: Thursday,  August 24, 2017

Final exam: Tuesday, September 12, 2017

 

Course Requirements

Participation (8 out of 10 lectures) 4%

In-class assignments (6 out of 8 assignments) 10%

Quizzes (4 out of 5 quizzes) 16%

Midterm 30%

Final 40%

 

Required Reading:  Reading assignments will be given throughout the quarter and are listed in the class schedule.

Participation (4%):  i>clickers will be used to award participation points so please obtain an i>clicker or an i>clicker2 or the REEF app and bring it to each class, including the first class. To get full participation points you must answer 75% of the questions asked in 8 of the 10 lectures over the quarter. (Your answer does not need to be correct for you to earn points.) NOTE – it is academic dishonesty to operate someone else’s i>clicker for them and you will both receive 0% for participation and a letter in your permanent record if this is discovered. If you consistently are late to class or leave early without a legitimate reason, you will be penalized participation points even if you have met the requirements for iClicker questions answered.

In-class assignments (10%): Every day in class (except for the days of the midterm and the last day of lecture) there will be an in-class assignment that you will typically complete as part of a group. Your 6 best assignment scores will count towards your final grade, but you are encouraged to complete all assignments as they are designed to assist you in learning the course material and contain problems representative of some you may encounter on quizzes and exams. These assignments do not merely repeat material from the lectures. Instead, they are designed to 1) give you a chance to develop practical science skills such as making observations, using maps, graphs, and mathematics to solve problems, and 2) work through certain concepts which are particularly challenging. Each assignment will be due at the beginning of the following lecture. Electronic submissions are acceptable - send the electronic copy of the assignment to me via email. You must attend the lecture in which the assignment was assigned to receive the assignment.

Quizzes (16%): There will be weekly online quizzes on EEE to help you review and practice using the material we cover each week. Quizzes will be assigned on Thursdays and must be completed by 10 PM on the following Sunday. Each quiz may be taken up to 2 times before the deadline and the best score will count. NOTE – submitting the quiz more than 2 times will result in points being deducted from your score. Only your 4 best quiz scores will count towards your final grade but you are encouraged to complete all the quizzes in order to assist you in learning the material. Quizzes may cover material from lectures and reading. Because your lowest quiz score will be dropped, no early or make-up quizzes will be permitted.

Examinations* - Midterm (30%), Final (40%): There will be two exams. Photo I.D. is required and must be presented upon request. No early exams will be given. If you miss an exam, a make-up oral exam will only be permitted a) within 1 week following that exam b) if you first provide authentic documentation of a genuine emergency excusing you from the exam and c) you personally request an appointment with the instructor within 48 hours of the missed exam. If you miss one exam, a make-up exam will not be permitted for any other exam. The midterm will be given during the first hour of Lecture 6 on Thursday, 8/24. The cumulative final exam will be on Tuesday, September 12th at 9:00 AM.  No early exams will be given.

*On both the Midterm and Final you will be expected to identify the five oceans on a world map. You will earn 1 point for successfully doing this, but will lose 2 points for EACH MISLABELED OCEAN. This is a college level oceanography class - you are expected to know the world oceans.

Class evaluation (extra credit, 1%): By participating in BOTH the midterm and end-of-course instructor evaluations online, an extra credit of 1% will be applied to your final grade. These evaluations are anonymous and greatly aid instructors in their course design.

Regrade policy: Requests to have any assignment, quiz, or exam regraded must be submitted by e-mail with a detailed explanation of the perceived grading error. These requests must be received within one class meeting of when the assignment/exam was returned or the right to a regrade will be forfeited. When submitting your exam for a regrade, the professor will regrade the entire exam (and may not be as kind with partial credit).

Attendance/Tardiness: Attendance is required and important. Although attendance may not be directly taken each day, a large portion of your grade (14%) depends on attendance and participation. Please show up to class ON TIME. Entering the class late is a disruption to your peers and may result in points being removed from your participation grade. Remember, this is a fast-paced summer course and attendance is crucial to succeeding.

 

Course Schedule (subject to change)

Week	Lecture	Date	Topic	Reading* (12ed)
1	1	8/8	Importance of Oceans, Scientific Method Origin of Earth	Ch1 p16-34 Ch2 p39-54
1	2	8/10	Plate Tectonics - Boundaries and Hotspots The Ocean Floor	Ch2 p54-77 Ch3
2	3	8/15	Sediments Properties of Water and Salinity	Ch4 Ch5
2	4	8/17	Ocean pH and Stratification Atmospheric Structure and Motion	Ch5 Ch6
3	5	8/22	Surface Ocean Circulation	Ch6-7 Ch7
3	6	8/24	Midterm Deep Ocean Circulation Ocean/Atmosphere Interactions - El Niño and Hurricanes	Ch7 Ch8
4	7	8/29	Tides and Waves Coastlines	Ch8, 9 Ch10
4	8	8/31	Marine Productivity, Life, Ecosystems, and Environments Plankton	Ch12, 13 Ch14
5	9	9/5	Nekton and Benthos Human Impacts I	Ch15 Ch11
5	10	9/7	Greenhouse Effect Human Impacts II - Acidification, Ocean Warming, and Sea Level Rise	Ch16
6	Final	9/12	Final Exam	Cumulative

*I will not expect you to read the entire textbook. Chapters presented here correspond to the topics we will cover in lecture. I will provide refined reading assignments for the next class meeting at the end of each class meeting.

 

Academic Honesty & Civility

Academic honesty is a requirement to pass this class. Cheating and disruptive behavior in any form are never allowed. Guidelines established by the UCI Academic Senate will be followed if a student is caught cheating or disrupting the educational process. These policies are available online and highlighted below. You have a responsibility to refrain from any form of academic dishonesty and to treat your fellow students, teaching assistants, and instructors with courtesy, civility, and respect.

Any student who compromises the academic integrity of this course is subject to a failing grade. The work you submit must be your own. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, operating another person’s iclicker on their behalf, allowing your iclicker to be operated by another person on your behalf, copying answers from another student, allowing another student to copy your answers, communicating exam answers to other students during an exam, attempting to use notes or other aids during an exam, or tampering with an exam after it has been corrected and then returning it for more credit.  If you do so, you will be in violation of the UCI Policies on Academic Honesty (see https://aisc.uci.edu/) It is your responsibility to read and understand these policies. Note that any instance of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Integrity Administrative Office for disciplinary action and is cause for a failing grade in the course.

Consulting on assignments is acceptable and encouraged as a potentially valuable learning practice. Study together, discuss methods, and check your answers against each other. You must do the work yourself and write your answers in your own words. It is your responsibility to make it clear to the grader that you worked through the entire problem yourself.

 

Highlights from the UCI Academic Senate Policies on Academic Honesty:

Types of Academic Dishonesty:

• Cheating
• Copying from other students (or staring inappropriately at their work) during an exam.
• Telling answers to another student during an exam.
• Taking an exam for another student or having another student take an exam for you.
• Making changes to a corrected exam and then returning it for more credit.
• Using hidden notes or a larger than permitted notecard in exams.
• Dishonest conduct (e.g., stealing an exam from an instructor)
• Plagiarism
• Collusion (i.e., helping another student to cheat such as operating their i>clicker)

Students have a responsibility to:

• Refrain from cheating and plagiarism.
• Refuse to aid or abet any form of academic dishonesty.
• Notify professors and/or appropriate administrative officials about observed incidents of academic misconduct. The anonymity of a student reporting an incident of academic dishonesty will be protected.