Postgraduate Courses

An introduction to the fundamentals of physical, chemical, geological, geochemical, and biological oceanography. It unveils the mystery of the oceans including the formation of the continents, oceanic circulation, and formation of precious minerals in the deep oceans; discovers ocean resources from phytoplankton to fish. The course will lay the foundation for sustainable use of the oceans and discuss human threats such as global warming, overfishing, and coastal pollution.

This course introduces the Earth surface hydrodynamics, biogeochemical cycles, sediment and climate processes focusing on the river basin and watershed that link with atmosphere, river water, soil, vegetation, landscape, impact of humans, submarine groundwater discharge and ocean for the modification of Earth system.

This course presents fundamental geophysical fluid dynamics in the ocean and atmosphere system by introducing governing concepts and principles in ocean and atmospheric circulation as well as the exchanges of buoyancy, energy and momentum fluxes in the interface between air and sea.

The biogeochemical cycle in the ocean is not only governed by the chemical and biological processes, but also regulated critically by the physical processes in the ocean. The topics of this course cover ocean circulation and biogeochemical dynamics, marine phytoplankton and zooplankton, biogeochemical response to circulation dynamics in the ocean.

The course covers major processes and interactions of Earth system components and introduces the related numerical modeling concepts and techniques. It provides hands-on modeling projects to explore ideas of designing, constructing, and applying models to test hypotheses and enhance understanding of the Earth system processes and their response and feedback to the climate.

This course introduces the fundamental principles that govern the physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere, including the thermodynamics of dry and moist air, radiative transfer, important trace gases and aerosols, and essential aspects of atmospheric circulation, etc. These fundamental principles form the basis of understanding the role of atmosphere in the global energy, water and carbon cycles, and the interaction between the atmosphere and other components of the Earth system. This course also provides a synthesis of these topics in the context of critical issues that are affecting human society such as extreme weather events, air pollution, and climate change.

This course provides fundamental knowledge of how carbon flows through the land-ocean-atmosphere continuum and how carbon interacts with the cycling of water and other essential biogeochemical elements to regulate the Earth’s climate. It provides insight into human activities altering the carbon cycle, the global climate, and ecosystem dynamics. It also explores nature-based solutions or eco-engineering strategies for achieving carbon neutrality and mitigating adverse climate and ecosystem changes.

Selected topics of current interest in emerging areas and not covered by existing courses. May be repeated for credit if different topics are covered. May be graded by letter or P/F for different offerings.

Study on selected topics in the Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences under the supervision of a faculty member.

Master's thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.

Original and independent doctoral thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.