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).


Week 2. What is risk? (2).
Week 3. Natural disasters (1).
Week 4. Natural disasters (2).
Week 5. Natural disasters (3).
Week 6. Natural disasters (4).
Week 7. Natural disasters (5).
Week 8. Natural disasters (6).
Week 9. Exposure risks (1).
Week 10. Exposure risks (2).
Week 11. Exposure risks (3).
Week 12. Environmental change and control (1)
Week 13. Environmental change and control (2).
Week 14. Environmental change and control (3).
Week 15. Environmental change and control (4).
Göran Ekström, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University
Last modified: 2019-08-21