About this course: Develop a greater appreciation for how the air, water, land, and life formed and have interacted over the last 4.5 billion years.
Created by: University of Manchester
Taught by: Prof. David M. Schultz, Professor of Synoptic Meteorology
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences
Taught by: Dr Rochelle Taylor, Postdoctoral Research Associate
School of Earth, Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences
Taught by: Dr Jonathan Fairman, Postdoctoral Research Associate
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences
| Level | Beginner |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Chinese (Simplified) |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Building Blocks of Earth’s Climate System
15 videos, 7 readings
- Video: What's in store ...
- Reading: Course Guide
- Reading: Grading & Logistics
- Reading: Building Blocks of Earth’s Climate System
- Video: Video 1.0: Introduction and Philosophy
- Video: Video 1.1: How does science work?
- Video: Optional Video: How do scientific papers get published?
- Video: Video 1.2: Introduction to the Earth's climate system
- Video: Video 1.3: How do we measure geologic time?
- Video: Video 1.4: Geological Time Scale Song
- Video: Video 1.5: Minerals and Rocks
- Video: Video 1.5.1: Igneous Rock
- Video: Video 1.5.2: Sedimentary Rock
- Video: Video 1.5.3: Metamorphic Rock
- Video: Video 1.6: Using radioactivity to date rocks - Dr. Ray Burgess
- Video: Video 1.7: Using stable isotopes to understand Earth processes - Dr. Ray Burgess
- Video: Video 1.8: How do we know how old the Earth is?
- Video: Video 1.9: What are those rocks doing lying around?
- Reading: Google Earth Tour 1
- Reading: Activity 1: Introduction
- Reading: Eloquent Science
- Reading: Our Earth 001 Course Book
Graded: Assessment 1
WEEK 2
Formation, evolution, and processes of the solid Earth
14 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: Formation, evolution, and processes of the solid Earth
- Video: Video 2.1.1: How did the Moon form? - Dr. Katherine Joy
- Video: Video 2.1.2: Why is the Moon important to life on earth? - Dr. Katherine Joy
- Video: Video 2.2: What came before plate tectonics?
- Video: Video 2.3: How did plate tectonics get discovered?
- Video: Video 2.4.1: The Earth's magnetic field
- Video: Video 2.4.2: The magnetic poles flip? You're kidding me, right?
- Video: Video 2.5: How earthquakes happen
- Video: Video 2.6.1: What's inside the Earth?
- Video: Video 2.6.2: How do we know about the insides of the Earth?
- Video: Video 2.7: How do the plates move?
- Video: Video 2.8: How does magma form?
- Video: Video 2.9: How were the Himalaya formed?
- Video: Video 2.10: Supercontinent Pangaea
- Video: Video 2.11: The supercontinent cycle
- Reading: Google Earth Tour 2 and 3
Graded: Assessment 2
WEEK 3
Water in Earth’s Climate System: Oceans, Atmosphere, and Cryosphere
14 videos, 5 readings
- Reading: Water in Earth’s Climate System: Oceans, Atmosphere, and Cryosphere
- Video: Video 3.1.1: Where Did the Oceans Come From?
- Video: Video 3.1.2: Are the Oceans in Steady State?
- Video: Video 3.2.1: How the oceans work - Dr. Gregory Lane-Serff
- Video: Video 3.2.2: The oceanic conveyor belt - Dr. Gregory Lane-Serff
- Video: Video 3.3.1: What is the Atmosphere Made Of?
- Video: Video 3.3.2: What Controls the Temperature Profile of the Atmosphere?
- Video: Video 3.3.3: Three Radiation Laws
- Video: Video 3.3.4: What if the Earth had no Atmosphere?
- Video: Video 3.4.1: How does the Atmosphere Work?
- Video: Video 3.4.2: How do the Jet Streams Control the Weather?
- Video: Video 3.5: Extratropical cyclones
- Video: Video 3.6: The Rise and Fall of Ice on Earth
- Video: Video 3.7: How do Glaciers Control the Height of Mountains? – Dr. Simon Brocklehurst
- Video: Video 3.8: Why the Arctic is Crucial to Earth's Climate - Dr. Bart Van Dongen and Dr. Robert Sparks
- Reading: Google Earth Tour 4
- Reading: Activity 2: Further Exploration
- Reading: The Thinking Persons’ Guide to Climate Change
- Reading: The shaping of storm tracks by mountains and ocean dynamics
Graded: Assessment 3
WEEK 4
Life, and its Effect on Earth’s Climate System
17 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: Life, and its Effect on Earth’s Climate System
- Video: Video 4.3.2: The Earliest Life on Earth
- Video: Video 4.3.1 The Formation of Organic Molecules and the Tree of Life
- Video: Video 4.1: The Earth's primitive atmosphere
- Video: Video 4.2: Fossils
- Video: Video 4.4.1: Welcome to The Manchester Museum - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.4.2: Apex Chert and Stromatolites - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.4.3: Ediacaran Fauna - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.5.1: How Oxygen Changed the Earth Forever
- Video: Video 4.5.2: The Arrival of Multicellular Life and the Cambrian Explosion
- Video: Video 4.6.1: How Plants and Animals Came Onshore - Dr. Victoria Egerton
- Video: Video 4.6.2: Colonization of Land
- Video: Video 4.7.1: Devonian: From Fish to Tetrapod - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.7.2: Carboniferous - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.7.3: Jurassic Coast - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.7.4: Dinosaurs - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.7.5: Chemical Fossils - Prof. Phil Manning
- Video: Video 4.8: Controls on Life on Earth: Mass Extinctions
- Reading: Google Earth Tour 5
Graded: Assessment 4
WEEK 5
Build Your Own Earth and Conclusion
5 videos, 4 readings
- Reading: Build Your Own Earth
- Video: BYOE Video 1: Introduction to Build Your Own Earth
- Video: BYOE Video 2: How to Use Build your own Earth
- Video: BYOE Video 3: How to Interpret Climate Properties: Surface Temperatures, the Jet Stream, Clouds, and Precipitation
- Video: BYOE Video 4: Using Build Your Own Earth to Study Past Earth Climates
- Reading: Activity 1: Introduction
- Reading: Activity 2: Further Exploration
- Reading: Activity 3: Assessment
- Video: Video 5.0: Synthesis and Anthropogenic Climate Change
Graded: BYOE Assessment
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Ratings and Reviews
Excellent course to know more about our planet Earth and to understand why we are so fortunate to live in it now.
This has proved to be a very useful course for me...
Thank the Team who put all the content together
Dr. Manojkumar P. Devne
Associate Professor
S.P.College, Pune 411030
Maharashtra, India
It was fantastic journey with our earth
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