NR150 Oceanography COURSE SYLLABUS Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship Warner College of Natural Resources Instructor Teaching Team Name Dr Ursula Quillmann Office NR209 Bob Buford Assistant Instructor Office NR209 Bob Buford colostate edu Phone 970 491 7091 Jenny Morgan Office NR218 jmorgan3 rams colostate edu E Mail Office Hours ursula quillmann colostate edu See Office Hour Schedule And by Appointment Website www facebook com ColoOcean Term Class Meeting Days Class Meeting Hours Class Location Fall 2018 Tuesday and Thursday 9 30 to 10 45 Clark 101A Course Credits 3 Office Hours Schedule Subject to Change Mondays Tuesdays Wednesdays Thursdays 8 30 9 00 Ursula NR209 8 30 9 00 Ursula NR209 9 00 3 00 Bob NR209 or NR218 starting 9 6 9 00 3 00 Bob NR209 or NR218 starting 9 6 11 00 12 00 Ursula NR209 11 00 12 00 Ursula NR209 12 00 2 00 12 00 2 00 Lizzie NR370 Jenny NR218 1 45 2 45 Nora NR218 Fridays 12 00 2 00 Lizzie NR370 12 00 1 30 Nora NR218 1 45 2 45 Nora NR218 1 00 2 00 Jenny NR218 3 00 4 00 Nora and Jenny NR218 Forest Rangeland Stewardship Page 1 and by appointment Welcome NR150 is a big lecture class and again we have a full auditorium with 345 students Despite the large class size we are dedicated to make this class as personal as we possibly can We will offer ample office hours each week We will schedule additional office hours for exam reviews and for help with homework assignments We will also offer various workshops If you are falling behind or are struggling contact us sooner rather than later It is easy to get distracted in a large class like this Out of respect for your peers and your teaching team let s work together to keep the noise level down Let me introduce our Teaching Team to you Dr Ursula Quilmann I have been teaching NR150 Oceanography since Fall 2011 I took last semester off from teaching on campus because I had the opportunity to teach a Semester at Sea We sailed the world with 600 students on board We crossed the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean and sailed along the Atlantic coast of Africa and Europe We stopped in eleven countries and witnessed firsthand the state of our coastlines I am excited to share photos and stories with you throughout the semester Oceanography never gets boring because there is so much research going on and I ll do my best to incorporate the latest findings into my lectures Additional research findings will be posted on our Facebook site I encourage you to alert me if you come across any interesting articles or documentaries related to our class You can send links to me directly or post them on our Facebook site I am a paleoceanographer and my research interests are past abrupt climate changes As human actions continue to change the Earth s climate at an alarming rate it is important to look into past climate changes prior to human influence on the climate to understand how the Earth s climate system naturally has worked on its own in the past Understanding past climate changes helps us to better understand the future The ocean and climate are a coupled system and the ocean influences the climate by storing and transporting heat The ocean is also a major reservoir for carbon dioxide a key greenhouse gas Such changes are reflected in seawater properties such as temperature salinity and seawater chemistry Signals of past changes are preserved in ocean sediments I analyze ocean sediments to learn more about past ocean circulation and climate since the last ice age I specialize in ocean biogeochemistry stable isotopes and trace and minor elements in biogenic calcium carbonate of foraminifera microscopic marine protozoa I am also interested in the stability of the Greenland ice sheet and past marine ecologies and environments In recent years I have become more and more interested in modern oceanography and I have realized the pressing need to protect our ocean and to protect the unique ecosystems and animals living in the ocean I am looking forward to sharing my passion and my love for the ocean and our environment with you Bob Buford I have had the pleasure of working with Dr Quilmann for several semesters assisting her in not only Oceanography but also in her other two classes NR 130 and NR 370 I have an intense passion about our Ocean and learning more about them both through the classes and outside research It is vitally important that we take the responsibility to clean up and save our ocean as it is the engine that powers our world If you find that you are in need of help please come to us sooner rather than later in the semester so that we can assist you and solve any issues you may have Welcome to Oceanography and I hope you all learn a bit more about the importance of the oceans in our everyday life Forest Rangeland Stewardship Page 2 Jennifer Morgan My name is Jenny and I m a senior this year at CSU studying for a Sociology degree in the liberal arts department I spent my first two years in college at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison Colorado When I m not studying hard for classes I like to spend time by my pool take hikes rock climb and ride my mountain bike I also love to spend as much time as I can by the ocean Do not hesitate to come to me for help either through email or office hours I look forward to a great semester Course Overview The ocean is under greater pressure from anthropogenic influence than ever before and therefore it is important that we try to understand the nature of oceanic processes We will take an interdisciplinary approach by breaking oceanography into marine geology chemistry physics and biology In our geological oceanography component we will explore how ocean basins and ocean floor features formed such as ocean spreading ridges trenches and hydrothermal vents Why is the ocean salty and where do the nutrients in the ocean come from We will find out in our chemical oceanography component The physical oceanography component addresses wave formation tides tsunamis ocean surface and thermohaline circulation and how these are constrained by ocean basins and ocean floor features Lastly we will discuss biological oceanography in the context of geological chemical and physical oceanography to assess the complexity of marine life We will study plankton fishes marine mammals birds and reptiles Ecosystems like kelp forests tidal pools coral reefs hydrothermal vents support an array of fascinating organisms We will study how these organisms within an ecosystem interact with one