Syllabus

GEOS 300: 2023 W2

with Dr. June skeeter

The course syllabus is intended to give an overview of what you can expect over the term and outline the course policies. It is a living document and may be updated as the semester progresses.

About the Course

In this course we’ll focus on the interactions between the surface, vegetation and atmosphere, and the physical processes governing the transfer of heat, mass and momentum. Through this course you’ll also be exposed to the basic instrumentation and methods used in today’s monitoring and modeling of microscale climate and surface-atmosphere exchange. While this course examines the behavior of the atmosphere close to the surface, what we cover in this class implications for processes occurring at the scale of a single leaf to the entire planet!

Key Information

Your Instructor

Dr. June skeeter

Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs

Email: june.skeeter@ubc.ca

Office Hours: Mondays 11:00-11:45 Room 127, Geography Bldg. Alternative times available by appointment.

Bio: My name is June. I am a geographer, researcher, and educator who has been living as an uninvited guest on unceded Coast Salish Territory since 2015. I received a PhD in geography from UBC in 2022 and am now working for the UBC Micrometeorology group. I study greenhouse gas exchange in wetland ecosystems and associated feedback mechanisms that influence the earth’s climate system. My principal aims this semester are to give you a broad overview to the dynamics governing of weather and climate and to provide you with a supportive learning environment.

Your TA

Zoe

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Email: hehanzha@student.ubc.ca

Office: Geography room 207

Bio: I received a BSc in Environmental Science from the University of British Columbia in 2022. My undergraduate thesis research investigated the impacts of fire on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes (CO2, CH4, and N2O) within different burned zones of a bog. The methodology incorporated chamber measurements and gas chromatography for the analysis. Currently, as a second-year MSc student, I am examining the impacts of seedling removal — a post-fire management practice — on the GHG fluxes (CO2 and CH4) within the 2016 burned zone of the Burns Bog, Delta, BC. This research utilizes a smart chamber with a portable analyzer. Additionally, I am interested in quantifying the net carbon exchange at the ecosystem scale using eddy covariance techniques and understanding carbon dynamics across varying ecosystem types.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand the physical and biological processes that determine the microclimate of a surface.
  • Explain how microclimates vary in time & space (vertically and horizontally).
  • Describe important surface characteristics that affect surface radiation and energy budget and surface microclimates.
  • Describe interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and understand how surface-atmosphere feedbacks respond to environmental change.
  • Understand the basics of turbulence, dispersion and local wind systems in the atmospheric boundary layer and how they are controlled by surface processes.
  • Know the principles of basic instrumentation, methods and data-analysis (including the use of the R programming language) used for today’s monitoring and modelling of weather and climate in the atmospheric boundary layer.
  • Analyze and interpret data from measurement systems that are used to monitor near-surface climate and surface radiation and energy balances.
  • Provide examples how the principles of biometeorology have practical application to society.

Evaluation

Table 1: Components of your final grade
Points Distribution Percent of Final Grade
Lecture Participation 5%
Study Questions 5%
Assignments 40%
Mid-term exam 20%
Final exam 30%

Lectures

Lectures will be held in-person on Monday & Wednesday, 14:00 - 15:30 in Geography Building, Room 101. Lectures will not be live streamed, but they will be recoded for those who are unable to attend or wish to review the material. You may find the recordings here. Note: Recording is provided as a courtesy and the quality of recordings is not guaranteed.

  • Zoom recordings during the transit strike can be found here

Participation

Participation will be assessed using iClicker, click here to learn more about iClicker. You may only earn participation points in person, only during lecture.

Assignments

Assignments will most easily be completed using a programming language such as R, Python, etc. Programming is not mandatory, equations can be evaluated by hand or in excel, but I will provide support and resources to help you learn.

  • All assignments are required to be labelled with course number, student number, student name and assignment number.
  • Assignments will be posted on on Canvas on and must be turned in by 11:50 pm the day of the due date.
    • Late assignments will be penalized by 10% per day past on the due date and will not be accepted once grades have been returned
  • Collaboration is encouraged. However, you should think about the problems yourself before discussing them with others.
    • Write-ups must be done independently.
    • It is OK for other people to explain their solutions to you, but you must not copy their solutions as your own.

Examinations

Exams will make up the half of your overall grade. Exams will be open book, and and completed asynchronously. The midterm will be Wednesday on March 13th.

The Final Exam

The final exam will be open between April Wednesday April 24th and Thursday April 25th. It will be completed asynchronously over canvas.

  • The exam will not be timed. It is not intended to take longer that a normal exam period (250 minutes), but I want you to have more time if you need it.
    • The exam will be open for 48 hours starting at 8 AM Wednesday April 24th
      • Late submissions will not be accepted. If you experience extenuating circumstances, contact me before the exam period closes
  • The final is cumulative; any topics from the course are fair game. Similar to the midterm:
  • A collection of multiple choice, fill in the blanks, matching etc. (~50%)
  • Problem set + short answer questions (~50%)

Study Questions

Self-study questions are assigned regularly throughout the semester. These are an opportunity for you to apply some of the concepts covered in class, and will help prepare you for assignments and exams. Solutions to the self-study questions are available to you, but you are required to upload your own answers to these questions on Canvas (either as a word document, pdf, or html file) to get credit.

Course Policies

My aim for this semester is to provide a flexible and supportive learning environment while respecting the boundaries of myself and your TAs. These course policies are intended to establish a framework for navigating the course.

Participation & Absences

If you are sick (with COVID or otherwise), please stay home to protect others and take care of yourself. Lectures are recorded so you can catch up on the material you miss.

  • Participation points are only available during the lecture session. Makeup points will not be offered, but I will normalize participation grades to negate the effect of two absences.

Accommodations

Please contact the Center for Accessibility if you require accommodations for a disability. Once you are registered please make me aware of any necessary accommodations by email in a timely manner.

  • If you require an accommodation please contact me by email: june.skeeter@ubc.ca

Academic Concessions

If you experience extenuating circumstances that prevent you completing course work, you may be elidible for an Academic Concession.

  • I can make accommodations on a case by case basis, but it is your responsibility to communicate your needs in a timely fashion (i.e. before a due date).
  • Please email me promptly (june.skeeter@ubc.ca) so that we can work together to figure out an accommodation for your situation.
    • You are not obligated to explain your personal circumstances to me to justify the concession, my intent is to be accommodating. However, you must to communicate any need for a concession in a timely manner. If you require multiple concessions I may refer you to Arts Advising.

Academic Integrity

The academic enterprise is founded on honesty, civility, and integrity. As members of this enterprise, all students are expected to know, understand, and follow the codes of conduct regarding academic integrity. At the most basic level, this means submitting only original work done by you and acknowledging all sources of information or ideas and attributing them to others as required. This also means you should not cheat, copy, or mislead others about what is your work. Violations of academic integrity (i.e., misconduct) lead to the breakdown of the academic enterprise, and therefore serious consequences arise and harsh sanctions are imposed.

Plagiarism and cheating will be taken very seriously. The first incident of plagiarism/copying/cheating will result in a zero for the assignment. Further incidents will be reported to the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline in addition to a zero. A more detailed description of academic integrity, including the University’s policies and procedures, may be found here

Though you may work together with your classmates on the assignments and help each other, ALL STUDENTS MUST SUBMIT THEIR OWN ORIGINAL WORK. This means that your maps must be your own, and your answers must be in your own words. Failure to submit your own work can result in failing the assignment or worse, so please be careful. See the Academic Integrity section of the Syllabus for more information.

Strategies for Success

Be proactive!

  • Keep track of deadlines & note the late submission policies
    • Timely communication is important! If you have an issue, please bring it to my attention.
    • Partial credit is better than no credit. If you can’t finish a lab before the deadline - just submit what you’ve got done already.
  • Drop by office hours & ask questions!