Environmental Monitoring for Humanosphere-E2 :Introduction to Humanosphere
| Numbering Code | U-LAS61 10020 LE14 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ Second semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Lecture | |
| Target Year | Mainly 1st & 2nd year students | Target Student | For all majors | |
| Language | English | Day/Period | Fri.4 | |
| Instructor name | Luce，Hubert (Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere Professor) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course | The population growth has increased human vulnerability to natural disasters. In addition, advanced technologies and continued increasing demand for energy and other natural resources have led to detrimental impacts on the environment. In-depth knowledge and understanding of environmental conditions are necessary for implementing social changes devoted to protect human life and to preserve the planet for the next generations, as recommended by the Sustainable Development Goal SDG13 (Climate action) of the United Nations. Environmental monitoring, i.e. the observation and the study of the environment, is thus crucial in preparation of risk assessment, population warning against natural disasters, environmental regulations and sustainable development. In this lecture, general aspects of environmental monitoring are presented. | |||
| Course Goals | The students will gain knowledge about the concept of environmental monitoring. Through a few examples, the students will understand how important environmental monitoring can be for diagnosing problems and warning, and for helping their remediation. They will also get an overview of some monitoring systems used (e.g. network of sensors and communication infrastructures) for these purposes. | |||
| Schedule and Contents |
Lecture 1-2 1. Introduction: the environment and human-environment interactions. Lecture 3-7 2. Environmental monitoring for knowledge-based regulations and warnings 2.a Purpose of monitoring: generating information (1) for warning, (2) for getting knowledge, for understanding and for solving issues. 2.b Environmental issues for which monitoring is required (e.g., natural disasters; weather and climate forecasting; air, soil and water quality degradations; pollution, extinction of species; depletion of natural resources…) 2.c General concepts about monitoring (sampling strategies, methods of analysis, data quality requirements, data quality controls) based on examples. Lecture 8-9 3. An emblematic illustration of the usefulness of environmental monitoring: the stratospheric ozone hole 3.a The stratospheric ozone layer and its importance. 3.b The discovery of the ozone depletion and its anthropogenic causes. 3.c The societal responses to this problem. 3.d Toward the resorption of the ozone hole. 3.e The global ozone monitoring systems. Lecture 10-12 4. Monitoring for weather and climate forecasting. 4.a The importance of observation data for (improving) prediction models 4.b The global climate changes due to human activities diagnosed by monitoring (e.g. temperature increase, greenhouse gas increase and other indicators) 4.c The societal responses to the climate change? 4.d Earth- and satellite-based instrumentation for weather/climate monitoring. Lectures 13 5. Air Quality monitoring 5.aThe sources of air pollution and their impacts on human health and environment (buildings, agriculture, ecosystems) 5.b Air Quality Early Warning systems Lecture14 6. Introduction to earthquake, tsunami and volcano Early Warning systems. Lecture15 7. Summary, conclusions and feedback |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy |
Evaluation will be: Active participation in class: 20 pts Assignments/projects at home: 40 pts Final examination: 40 pts |
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| Course Requirements | This lecture only requires scientific backgrounds in natural sciences of high school levels. | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) |
Course materials are made available before class. Students are encouraged to study materials before and after each class for assimilating technical or uncommon words. Depending on the topic, the study of the lecture and the preparation of the report for the evaluation |
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| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | Not used. Slide handouts will be distributed. | ||
| References, etc. | Environmental Monitoring and Characterization, J. Artiola, I. L. Pepper, M. L. Brusseau, (Elsevier Sience & Technology Books, March 2004,), ISBN:0120644770 | |||
