GEO 409
Global Climate Change and Variability
An advanced course exploring ecosystem and landscape processes, carbon and water fluxes, land-use change, and the coupled effects of global climate change and human activities on terrestrial ecosystems. Topics span field measurements, remote sensing, and ecosystem modeling across multiple spatial and temporal scales.
Credits and term
3 credits · Fall offering
Level
Undergraduate
Instructor (Guest Lectures)
Dr. Jiquan Chen (Prof. Atul Jain -- UIUC, Prof. Geoff Henebry, Prof. Nathan Moore, Dr. Cheyenne Lei, Mr. Moriz Steiner, Mrs. Carrie Wicker)
Lecture Slides (Fall 2026), Syllabus
| Date | |
|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026: Introduction
Housekeeping Before We Begin | |
| Sep 2, 2026: Global Climate and Changes
1) What is climate change? 2) How do we know climate change is real (Evidence)? 3) What is causing climate change (Causes)? 4) What are the effects of climate change (Effects)? 5) What do we need to address the challenges at global scale? Reading: NASA: NASA: https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/ | |
| Sep 9, 2026: Physical Foundations for Global Climatic Changes
Turner’s Lecture on climate change (13 min) Physical Laws Radiative Processes Energy Balance of the Earth Reading: IPCC AR6 Working Group I, Chapter 7: The Earth’s Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks, and Climate Sensitivity. Pages: 924-932.[PDF] | |
| Sep 14, 2026: Greenhouse Effects on Global Climate & Change
Major Greenhouse Gases (GHG) What is greenhouse effect? Reading: Chen, J., C. Lei, and P. Sciusco, 2021. Modeling Ecosystem Global Warming Potentials. In Biophysical Models and Applications in Ecosystem Analysis (pp. 121-126). MSU Press.[PDF] | |
| Sep 16, 2026: Albedo Effects on Earth’s Climate: Warming and Cooling (by Dr. C. Lei)
What is albedo? Albedo of terrestrialecosystems How do we measure albedo? AlbedoandGlobal Warming Potential Land useandalbedo Reading: Chen, J., Lei, C., Chu, H., Li, X., Torn, M., Wang, Y. P., ... & Robertson, G. P. (2024). Overlooked cooling effects of albedo in terrestrial ecosystems. Environmental Research Letters, 19(9), 093001.[Article online] | |
| Sep 21, 2026: Quiz 1; Guidelines for term papers and presentations; Major Consequences of Climate Change
Presntation_Rubrics [PDF] Feeback from Students for Improvement; Tips for Making an Effective Presentation A Story of Dairy Production in Kazakhstan Reading: Naegle, K.M., 2021. Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(12), p.e1009554.[Article online] | |
| Sep 23, 2026: Major Consequences of Climate Change
Direct impacts Indirect impacts Positive feedback loops global perspective Reading: Levin, K., Boehm, S., & Carter, R. 2022. 6 Big Findings from the IPCC 2022 Report on Climate Impacts. Adaptation and Vulnerability. https://www.wri.org/insights/ipcc-report-2022-climate-impacts-adaptation-vulnerability?utm_source=chatgpt.com | |
| Sep 28, 2026: Major Consequences of Climate Change (water)
Quiz 1, Student Feedback Summary, and Schedule Changes YouTube Video: Sea level rise & the impacts on NY City; Shrinking Aral Sea Shift of Water Level Global Lakes Great Lakes in a changing climate: algal blooms, frozen surface, snow fall, ET, etc. Reading: Liu, Y., Chen, J., Sun, G., Zhang, G., Feng, J., & Fan, X. 2025. Catastrophic shifts in large lake levels. Fundamental Research, 5(5):2084-2087[PDF] | |
| Sep 30, 2026: Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
What are El Niño and La Niña? How often does ENSO occur? How will ENSO impact a particular region? What is the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)? El Niño/La Niña Update (August 2026) -- WMO Reading: NOAA, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO); https://psl.noaa.gov/enso/?utm_source=chatgpt.com WMO on El Niño (9/3/2026); https://wmo.int/resources/publication-series/el-ninola-nina-updates/august-2026 | |
| Oct 5, 2026: Climate Extremes & Effects
What are climate extremes? How are climate extremes defined and quantified? What are the attributes of climate extremes? What are the major climate extreme types? In class exercises Reading: U.S. Climate Extremes Index (CEI): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/cei/ Stephenson, D. B. (2008). Definition, diagnosis, and origin of extreme weather and climate events. Climate Extremes and Society, 9780521870, 11–23.[PDF] | |
| Oct 7, 2026: Quiz 2; Carbon Cycle and Climate Change
Terminology and basics Recap: Greenhouse Gas Effects and Changes Global carbon budget Reading: Executive summary (Pages 968-969) of Friedlingstein et al. (2024). Global carbon budget 2024. Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2024, 1-133. [Article online] | |
| Oct 12, 2026: Carbon Sequestration and Climate Change
Group exercise (carbon monitoring) Carbon sequestration, credit, and market Carbon footprint Reading: Global carbon budget: https://carbonmonitor.org/ World population: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ Primary energy consumption per capita (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-use) State and trends of carbon pricing dashboard: https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/?utm_source=chatgpt.com | |
| Oct 14, 2026: Carbon Story Continues; Overview of the Class | |
| Oct 19, 2026: An introduction to land surface phenology: What is it and why is it critical for understanding terrestrial ecosystem dynamics? (Prof. G. Henebry)
Stepping Back to See the Whole Context for Land Surface Phenology (LSP) Drivers of Phenology Land Surface Phenologies at Different Scales LSPs in Cool Earthlight Reading: Morisette, J. T., Richardson, A. D., Knapp, A. K., Fisher, J. I., Graham, E. A., Abatzoglou, J., ... & Liang, L. (2009). Tracking the rhythm of the seasons in the face of global change: phenological research in the 21st century. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 7(5), 253-260.[Article online] | Coming soon |
| Oct 21, 2026: Midterm Exam | |
| Oct 28, 2026: Ecosystem Modeling for Wildlife under the Changing Climate (Mr. M. Steiner)
What is Ecosystem Modeling for Wildlife, and why is it used? Why is it vital for the entire planet, including humans? Wildlife conservation is essential but not high on the agenda in capitalist societies Biodiversity conservation directed by models can support climate resilience and landscape sustainability. Habitat suitability and model predictions need careful interpretation. Reading: lecture notes. | |
| Nov. 2, 2026: Urban Heat Islands (UHI )
Five major causes of UHI Three major approaches to quantify UHI Four major consequences Six strategies to reduce UHI effects Reading: What Are Urban Heat Islands? (https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/what-are-heat-islands) Reference: Oke, T.R. (1973). City size and the urban heat island. Atmospheric Environment, 7(8), 769–779. | |
| Nov 4 2026: Coral Bleaching: Causes, Mechanisms, and Ecological Consequences
Causes Examples and Facts Climate connections Reading: Van Woesik et al. (2022). Coral‐bleaching responses to climate change across biological scales. GCB, 28(14), 4229-4250. UNEP, The world’s corals are bleaching. Here’s why and what it means for the ocean’s future; https://www.unep.org/new s-and-stories/story/worlds- corals-are-bleaching- heres-why-and-what-it- means-oceans-future | |
| Nov 9 2026: Quiz 3; Climate Zones and Global Ecosystems
Five major climate zones in Köppen Climate Classification Three criteria for the classification Uncertainty & User-dependent classifications Plants & Animals across the Global Terrestrial Lands Reading: NOAA Jetstream: Climate Zones (https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/global/climate-zones?utm_source=chatgpt.com) | |
| Nov 11, 2026: How Can We Help Build the Technosphere? (Prof. N. Moore)
What are Technosphere and Anthropocene? Six Rules of the Technosphere How can we measure the Technosphere? Where to look for adaptation? Reading: 1) Haff, P. (2014). Humans and technology in the Anthropocene: Six rules. The Anthropocene Review, 1(2), 126-136.[Article online] 2) Garrett, T. J., Grasselli, M., & Keen, S. (2020). Past world economic production constrains current energy demands: Persistent scaling with implications for economic growth and climate change mitigation. PLoS One, 15(8), e0237672.[Article online] | |
| Nov 16 2026: Changing State of the Climate System: Past, Current and Future
Large-scale changes in climate system Drivers Key climate indicators and principal modes of variability Future Climate (to be continued on Nov 23) Reading: Judd, E. J., Tierney, J. E., Lunt, D. J., Montañez, I. P., Huber, B. T., Wing, S. L., & Valdes, P. J. (2024). A 485-million-year history of Earth’s surface temperature. Science, 385, eadk3705.[PDF] Reference: IPCC AR6 report (Chapter 2) | Coming soon |
| Nov 18 2026: Earth System Modeling – ESM (Prof. A. Jain -- zoom) | Coming soon |
| Nov 23, 2026: Future Global Climate: Scenario-based Projections and Near-term Information
Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) Scenarios & Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) Near term (2021–2040), mid-term (2041–2060), and long term (2081–2100) Quiz 4 Reading: IPCC AR6 report (Chapter 4) | Coming soon |
| Nov 25, 2026: Group Discussion on Term Papers & Presentation (Self-arranged, with the instructor online) | Coming soon |
| Nov 30, 2026: Adaptation and Mitigation Actions | Coming soon |
| Dec 2, 2026: Visualizing Global Climate and Changes (w/ Mrs. Carrie Wicker) @ MSU Museum
Student Perceptions of Learning Survey (SPLS) Team presentation and assessment (10 each, 6 groups) | Coming soon |
| Dec 9, 2026: Group meeting & discussion w/ Dr. J Chen (zoom and in-person) | Coming soon |
| Dec 17, 2026: Individual term papers are due by 5:00 pm | Coming soon |
Lecture files are organized chronologically to support weekly review and in-class follow-up.
Course Contact
Questions about GEO 409? Contact Dr. Jiquan Chen.
