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Earth System Science Interdepartmental Major (ESYS)
Location
Location
- Program Adviser
- Professor Jeffrey McKenzie
- Frank Dawson Adams, Room 131C
- Email: jeffrey.mckenzie [at] mcgill.ca
- Telephone: 514-398-3833
About Earth System Science Interdepartmental Major
About Earth System Science Interdepartmental Major
The McGill program in Earth System Science (ESYS) is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge to address six “Grand Challenges” that are fundamental to our understanding of the way in which the Earth operates. These are:
- Global biogeochemical cycles
- Climate variability and change
- Land use and land cover change
- Energy and resources
- Earth hazards: volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes
- Earth-atmosphere observation, analysis and prediction
The ESS Major is offered jointly by the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC), the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPSC), and the Department of Geography (GEOG).
The individual departments, their disciplines, and specific courses offered by them are described in their respective entries in this publication.
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) - Major Earth System Science (57 credits)
The Major in Earth System Science (ESYS) is offered jointly by the following departments:
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC)
Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPSC)
Geography (GEOG)
Earth System Science (ESYS) views Earth as a single integrated system that provides a unifying context to examine the interrelationships between all components of the Earth system. The approach concentrates on the nature of linkages among the biological, chemical, human and physical subsystems of the Earth. Earth System Science primarily involves studying the cycling of matter and energy through the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, exosphere, and hydrosphere. It examines the dynamics and interrelationships among these processes at time scales that range from billions of years to days, and seeks to understand how these interrelationships have changed over time.
Required Courses (36 credits)
| ATOC 214 | (3) | Introduction: Physics of the Atmosphere |
| BIOL 215 | (3) | Introduction to Ecology and Evolution |
| ENVR 200 | (3) | The Global Environment |
| ENVR 201 | (3) | Society and Environment |
| ESYS 200 | (3) | Earth System Processes |
| ESYS 300 | (3) | Investigating the Earth System |
| ESYS 301 | (3) | Earth System Modelling |
| ESYS 500 | (3) | Earth System Applications |
| GEOG 203 | (3) | Environmental Systems |
| GEOG 308 | (3) | Principles of Remote Sensing |
| MATH 203 | (3) | Principles of Statistics 1 |
| MATH 222 | (3) | Calculus 3 |
18 credits from the following course list, with at least 3 credits from each of subject codes ATOC, EPSC, and GEOG. At least 9 of the 18 credits must be at the 400-level or higher.
Note: Courses at the 300-level or higher in other departments in the Faculties of Science and Engineering may also be used as complementary credits, with the permission of an academic adviser. Please see the list posted on the Departmental web page.
| ATOC 215 | (3) | Oceans, Weather and Climate |
| ATOC 309 | (3) | Weather Radars and Satellites |
| ATOC 315 | (3) | Water in the Atmosphere |
| ATOC 412 | (3) | Atmospheric Dynamics |
| ATOC 419 | (3) | Advances in Chemistry of Atmosphere |
| ATOC 512 | (3) | Atmospheric and Oceanic Dynamics |
| ATOC 513 | (3) | Waves and Stability |
| ATOC 530 | (3) | Paleoclimate Dynamics |
| ATOC 531 | (3) | Dynamics of Current Climates |
| ATOC 540 | (3) | Synoptic Meteorology 1 |
| ATOC 541 | (3) | Synoptic Meteorology 2 |
| BIOL 308 | (3) | Ecological Dynamics |
| BIOL 309 | (3) | Mathematical Models in Biology |
| BIOL 432 | (3) | Limnology |
| BIOL 434 | (3) | Theoretical Ecology |
| BIOL 441 | (3) | Biological Oceanography |
| BIOL 465 | (3) | Conservation Biology |
| BIOL 540 | (3) | Ecology of Species Invasions |
| BREE 319 | (3) | Engineering Mathematics |
| ECON 347 | (3) | Economics of Climate Change |
| ECON 405 | (3) | Natural Resource Economics |
| EPSC 212 | (3) | Introductory Petrology |
| EPSC 312 | (3) | Spectroscopy of Minerals |
| EPSC 320 | (3) | Elementary Earth Physics |
| EPSC 330 | (3) | Earthquakes and Earth Structure |
| EPSC 331 | (3) | Field School 2 |
| EPSC 334 | (3) | Invertebrate Paleontology |
| EPSC 341 | (3) | Field School 3 |
| EPSC 350 | (3) | Tectonics |
| EPSC 423 | (3) | Igneous Petrology |
| EPSC 425 | (3) | Sediments to Sequences |
| EPSC 445 | (3) | Metamorphic Petrology |
| EPSC 451 | (3) | Hydrothermal Mineral Deposits |
| EPSC 452 | (3) | Mineral Deposits |
| EPSC 455 | (3) | Sedimentary Geology |
| EPSC 519 | (3) | Isotope Geology |
| EPSC 525 | (3) | Subsurface Mapping |
| EPSC 530 | (3) | Volcanology |
| EPSC 542 | (3) | Chemical Oceanography |
| EPSC 549 | (3) | Hydrogeology |
| EPSC 580 | (3) | Aqueous Geochemistry |
| EPSC 590 | (3) | Applied Geochemistry Seminar |
| GEOG 272 | (3) | Earth's Changing Surface |
| GEOG 305 | (3) | Soils and Environment |
| GEOG 306 | (3) | Raster Geo-Information Science |
| GEOG 307 | (3) | Socioeconomic Applications of GIS |
| GEOG 321 | (3) | Climatic Environments |
| GEOG 322 | (3) | Environmental Hydrology |
| GEOG 350 | (3) | Ecological Biogeography |
| GEOG 351 | (3) | Quantitative Methods |
| GEOG 372 | (3) | Running Water Environments |
| GEOG 380 | (3) | Adaptive Environmental Management |
| GEOG 495 | (3) | Field Studies - Physical Geography |
| GEOG 499 | (3) | Subarctic Field Studies |
| GEOG 505 | (3) | Global Biogeochemistry |
| GEOG 506 | (3) | Advanced Geographic Information Science |
| GEOG 522 | (3) | Advanced Environmental Hydrology |
| GEOG 535 | (3) | Remote Sensing and Interpretation |
| GEOG 536 | (3) | Geocryology |
| GEOG 537 | (3) | Advanced Fluvial Geomorphology |
| GEOG 550 | (3) | Historical Ecology Techniques |
| MATH 314 | (3) | Advanced Calculus |
| MATH 315 | (3) | Ordinary Differential Equations |
| MATH 317 | (3) | Numerical Analysis |
| MATH 319 | (3) | Introduction to Partial Differential Equations |
| MATH 323 | (3) | Probability |
| MATH 326 | (3) | Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos |
| MATH 423 | (3) | Regression and Analysis of Variance |
| MATH 437 | (3) | Mathematical Methods in Biology |
| MATH 447 | (3) | Stochastic Processes |
| MATH 525 | (4) | Sampling Theory and Applications |
| NRSC 540 | (3) | Socio-Cultural Issues in Water |
| PHYS 331 | (3) | Topics in Classical Mechanics |
| PHYS 332 | (3) | Physics of Fluids |
| PHYS 340 | (3) | Majors Electricity and Magnetism |
| PHYS 342 | (3) | Majors Electromagnetic Waves |
Faculty:
Faculty of Science—2010-2011 (last updated Apr. 22, 2010) (disclaimer)
Faculty:
Faculty of Science—2010-2011 (last updated Apr. 22, 2010) (disclaimer)