Analyses of environmental change - Focus: long-term environmental problems 15 credits

About the course

The aim of the course is to provide a basic understanding of how scientific methods can be applied to study long-term environmental problems. During the course, we will primarily focus on environmental changes linked to pollution problems and landscape development, how different types of data can be used to determine when and why these changes have occurred in the environment, as well as what consequences these changes have. We will explore important concepts such as background conditions, reference states and natural variability, and how these affect our assessment of the state of the environment. We will also discuss how environmental processes leave traces in our surrounding, and how these traces can be used to understand more about how our environment has changed and is still changing.

The course is divided into the following two modules, which run in parallel during the course. Parts of the course are integrated with the course "Analyses of environmental changes - Focus: Biogeochemistry"

Module 1. Analysis of Environmental Changes, theoretical part, 7.5 credits
During the theory module natural variability and environmental change from a long-time perspective (centuries to millennia), with the overarching aim to increase the student's ability to apply a scientific approach when dealing with a complex problem.

Module 2. Analysis of Environmental Changes, project module, 7.5 credits
The module include project work where the students connect the theoretical parts from module 1 with practical aspects of analysing environmental changes. The aim of the module is to train students to be able to use relevant information (e.g., literature and analytical data) in a scientific way. An important part is to understand how data collection and data management affect how data can be interpreted. In addition to the practical elements, this module can also include lectures, seminars, workshops and group discussions.