Earth & Space Sciences

This course covers the physical, chemical, and biological processes that impact the oceans and atmosphere. As Earth’s fluid envelopes, the oceans and atmosphere share many dynamical similarities, as well as important differences. The course covers the geophysical fluid dynamics of the ocean and atmosphere, which influence the large-scale transport of heat and water/air masses, as well as small-scale features such as eddies and convection. Different modes of climate variability, such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation are investigated. This course also covers key biogeochemical processes that impact on the chemistry of the ocean and atmosphere, including carbon and nutrient cycling, and air-sea gas exchange. The insights from the physical circulation of the ocean and atmosphere build on knowledge of biological and chemical processes and reactions to understand key concepts such as cloud formation and aerosols.

This course provides a fundamental framework for interpreting major petrological processes acting within the silicate portion of planet Earth. The course focuses on solid-state equilibria, liquid-solid phase equilibria, crystallography, and spatial associations. 

This course discusses the process, method, design, and selection of materials for various industries including the automotive, aeronautical, and aerospace industries. It also examines different materials and their applications including metallic foams, intermetallics, carbon-based materials, nanomaterials, and phase change materials. Pre-requisites: Materials Science and Engineering 

This introductory astronomy course discusses the following topics: motion of celestial bodies; celestial vault; history of astronomy; telescopes and CCD cameras; astronomy from space; the solar system; stars; cosmological models; nearby universe.

An introduction to the physical processes occurring in the Earth's atmosphere. Interpretation of weather maps and satellite images, cloud types and formation, atmospheric structure, thermodynamic processes, rain formation, solar and terrestrial radiation, energy balance at the surface, cumulus and cumulonimbus convection, and air pollution.

This course is a foundation course for all Earth scientists, as well as students from other disciplines like biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering who wish to understand how our planet operates. The course is taught through the concept of connectivity between the evolution of life, and the physical Earth over time, plate tectonics and the rock cycle, and climate and elemental cycles. It conveys the relevant spatial and temporal length scales involved in Earth processes. Through lectures, innovative hands-on practicals, museum visits and geological tours of Edinburgh, and a field trip, students come to understand how the Earth works as an integrated system of physical processes, life, and climate, and appreciate how our modern world has emerged.

This course presents our planet and its specific features within the solar system and the Universe, as well as its genesis and evolution. The lessons focus on the Earth system, the structure, nature, and dynamics of its solid and fluid envelopes, as well as certain major cycles: the water cycle and the carbon cycle. It also covers the different quantitative and qualitative methods of geological time.

This course introduces students to Earth Science, the multi-disciplinary study of the past, present, and future of planet Earth and other planets in our solar system. The course is in 3 parts. The first part considers the origin of the solid Earth, its atmosphere and oceans and how these have evolved over the past 4,600 million years. The second part examines how surface processes and burial generate the sedimentary rocks that record Earth’s history. The final part reviews the history of life on Earth as recorded in the fossil record, and emphasizes the coupled evolution of the geosphere and biosphere.

This course introduces the basic theories of geophysics, such as the shape of the Earth, the Earth's gravitational field, the Earth's magnetic field, plate tectonic geodynamics, propagation of seismic waves, and the process of earthquake epicenters. Physical phenomena and conditions occurring inside the Earth from the surface to the center of the Earth are analyzed using physical methods and interpretations such as gravity, wave propagation, electricity and magnetism, and heat transfer.