Transcript No Slide Title

OA419
Introduction to the course
An interdisciplinary approach to coastal seas and shelves
Key points:
Seminars and lectures
•A course essay (individual)
•Boats work and associated practical sessions (teams)
Presentation of a poster (teams)
Presentation of a group talk on a coastal theme
(teams)
Use of a model to learn the advantages and
limitations of this approach (individual)
The class will be divided into 6 teams of 8-9 (boats,
oral presentations, and posters)
Course objectives:
Appreciate the need to take an inter-disciplinary
view of coastal seas in order to have an
operational understanding of these systems.
Take an overview of the coastal seas as a system
potentially threatened by human activity and
climate change.
Appreciate construction of numerical
models and their benefits and limitations.
Assessment:
Essay on an inter-disciplinary topic (25%)
Oral Presentation (15%)
Poster Presentation (20%)
Modelling report (15%)
Reports on boat and laboratory practicals
(25%)
It is important to be at Lectures!!
If not present at a minimum of 90% of the lectures
and seminars without a very good documented
reason will receive a 5% deduction
Timetable distributed each week (modelling and boat
pracs and lab sessions in same place)
Substantial amount of time for students to carry out
assessments
Choice of Essay today
Overview of coastal and shelf
systems
What are coastal and shelf sea systems?
Many variations on definition!
In this course we will consider zone from
mouths of estuaries and high tide line to shelf
break We will include e.g deltas fjords, coral
reefs etc.
•
•
Coastal and shelf seas of critical
importance to humans.
•Coastal domain 18% of global surface area, yet
contains ~60% of world’s population.
•80-90% of global fish catch in coastal seas
Dynamic and high energy zone
•Energy inputs from wind/wave or tide source
Temporally very variable
Interface between land and ocean (LOICZ)
•Zone of great importance from geological, chemical,
biological and physical perspectives.
•Highly productive as often well lit and close to sources
of nutrients
•Climatically highly variable: equatorial – temperate -
polar
Chla in
summer;
red are
high
values,
blue low.
Note
some
cloud
cover
evident
Image c/o NERC
Human population and the coastal
ocean
•Varying estimates from 50% of world
population within 1 km of sea to > 50 % of
world population within 200km of coast
•Why?? Historically access to sea for resources
and easy transport
•Increasing pressure from mankind, pollution,
increasing exploitation (fisheries, aggregates
etc)
Human pressure on natural
resources:
Failing cod fisheries in North
Atlantic Ocean
•Climate change is coming!!- sea level rise,
increasing storminess
•Coastal zone of paramount importance to
humankind
•This zone is in the front line of climate change
and anthropogenic impact
•How it will this zone react to these impacts?
We have only limited understanding of this zone
Very involved subject with a huge literature, thus
we must take selective view
This course will
.provide basic introduction to some key
concepts
.then focus on selected topics in an
interdisciplinary way
.Introduce modelling as a means to describe
and help understand this system
Lectures will be complemented by student
orientated tasks, and boat and lab work.