Syllabus (PRELIMINARY)
EESC UN1201, Fall 2020
Environmental Risks and Disasters
Professor Göran Ekström
(845-365-8427, ekstrom@ldeo.columbia.edu)
Work:
Online Zoom lectures Monday and Wednesday, 10:10-11:25.
There will be problem sets. These will involve "scientific insight"
type questions, calculations exploring physical relationships,
and the statistical manipulation of data.
Discussion sections meet once per week vi Zoom. Discussion will
focus on topics relevant to the problem sets.
The grade will be based on the two hourly exams (15%+15%),
the problem sets (30%), and the final (40%). (THIS WILL BE MODIFIED IN 2020)
Text: Natural Disasters by P. L. Abbott. The 11th edition is the most recent (2019), but the 10th, 9th, or 8th editions are also fine. This book is not required.
Substantial lecture notes and additional readings will be posted on
the course web site.
Lecture Topics: (SOME CHANGES EXPECTED, TO INCLUDE DISCUSSION OF COVID-19)
Week 1. What is risk? (1).
- Lecture 1 (9/9): Introduction. Risks in many different forms.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapter 1 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapter 1 (7th ed.).
Week 2. What is risk? (2).
- First discussion section. (Discussion section meets once per week.)
- Lecture 2 (9/14): Quantification of risk. The risk of dying. Chance and probability.
- Lecture 3 (9/16): Risk perception and adjusting to the risk. The value of life. Patterns of natural disaster losses.
- Reading: Probability and statistics handout. Abbott, Chapter 9 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapter 11 (7th ed.).
Week 3. Natural disasters (1).
- Lecture 4 (9/21): The phenomenology of tornados. Atmospheric stability.
- Lecture 5 (9/23): Mitigation of tornado hazards.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapter 10 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapter 11 (7th ed.).
Week 4. Natural disasters (2).
- Lecture 6 (9/28): The phenomenology and effects of hurricanes.
- Lecture 7 (9/30): Hurricane mechanics. The Coriolis effect.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapter 11 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapter 13 (7th ed.).
Week 5. Natural disasters (3).
- Lecture 8 (10/5): Hurricane prediction and hazard mitigation.
- Lecture 9 (10/7): Plate tectonics. Phenomenology of earthquakes.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapters 2 and 3 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapters 2 and 4 (7th ed.).
Week 6. Natural disasters (4).
- Lecture 10 (10/12): Earthquake mechanics.
- Lecture 11 (10/14): The effects of earthquakes. Mitigation of earthquake hazards.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapters 4 and 5 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapters 3 and 6 (7th ed.).
Week 7. Natural disasters (5).
- Lecture 12 (10/19): Planning for earthquakes. Prediction and problems of mitigation.
- Lecture 13 (10/21): Phenomenology of volcanos. Volcano hazards.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapter 6 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapter 8 (7th ed.).
Week 8. Natural disasters (6).
- Lecture 14 (10/26):
- Lecture 15 (10/28): Volcano prediction and hazard mitigation.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapters 7 and 17 (9th ed.); Chapters 7 and 16
(8th ed.); Chapters 9 and 17 (7th ed.).
Week 9. Exposure risks (1).
- No Classes at Columbia on day before Election Day (11/2)
- Lecture 16 (11/4): The hazard of impacts from space objects.
- Reading: Handout on exposure hazards.
Week 10. Exposure risks (2).
- Lecture 17 (11/9): Exposure risks. Dose and response.
- Lecture 18 (11/11): Radon. Biological effects of radiation.
- Reading: Handouts on radioactivity and radon.
Week 11. Exposure risks (3).
- Lecture 19 (11/16): Exposure risks and radon epidemiology. Other exposures to radiation.
- Lecture 20 (11/18): Asbestos and related health effects.
- Reading: Handout on asbestos.
Week 12. Environmental change and control (1)
- Lecture 21 (11/23): Exposure risks and asbestos. Arsenic and other exposure hazards.
- No classes at Columbia on day before Thanksgiving (11/25)
- Reading: Abbott, Chapters 13 and 11 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapters 14 and 13 (7th ed.).
Week 13. Environmental change and control (2).
- Lecture 22 (11/30):
- Lecture 23 (12/2): Flooding and the hydrology of watersheds. River flow and river flooding.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapters 13 and 11 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapters 14 and 13 (7th ed.).
Week 14. Environmental change and control (3).
- Lecture 24 (12/7): Coastal processes and hazards.
- Lecture 25 (12/9): Mitigation of flooding hazards.
- Reading: Abbott, Chapter 11 (9th and 8th ed.); Chapter 13 (7th ed.).
Week 15. Environmental change and control (4).
- Lecture 26 (12/16): Coastal erosion, global warming, sea-level change, and coastal development. Conclusion.
Göran Ekström,
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences,
Columbia University
Last modified: 2019-08-21