95702 - Earth System Interactions

Learning outcomes

The student learns how to evaluate and model some of the interactions between the Solid Earth and other components of the Earth system, such as the Hydrosphere and the Cryosphere, which give rise, on various time scales, to global phenomena that can be measured using techniques geophysical and geodetic and cannot be fully understood through a sectorial approach

Course contents

The first part of the course will examine the data and observations that highlight the interactions between the Solid Earth and other components of the Earth System, on various space and time scales. Geophysical evidence will be considered, linked for example to global geodynamics, variations in the volume of the oceans, deformations of the earth's crust caused by variations in the mass of continental ice, the temporal evolution of the cryosphere, isostatic phenomena, etc.

In the second part, the theories and physical models useful for the quantitative description of the phenomena arising from the interactions highlighted in the first part will be described. Various topics will be touched, including the shape of the Earth, the field of gravity and its variations, the rheology of geophysical materials, the response of the Earth to redistributions of mass at its surface, the rotation of the Earth, the Sea Level Equation , etc.

Finally, in the third part of the course, exercises based on open source numerical calculation codes, easy to use and well documented, will be proposed, which describe the interaction between Solid Earth, Oceans and Cryosphere, developed by the teacher over the years. In this way, students will have the opportunity to directly compare the model predictions with the available geophysical and geodetic observations.

Readings/Bibliography

The slides projected in class can be used as study texts, if accompanied by in-depth readings gradually recommended by the teacher. Texts and online resources will be suggested (texts, scientific articles, tools and sites of interest for understanding the interactions between the Solid Earth and the various components of the Earth System), useful as a complement to the lessons. Lecture notes and lecture notes.

Teaching methods

Classroom lessons and seminars in which students actively participate, intervening with monographic reports or taking part in discussions.

Assessment methods

The verification consists of a final oral exam, fixed by appointment with the teacher. The student will be asked to discuss three topics among those covered in the course. The student will be able to prepare one of the three topics in the form of a short written dissertation.

Teaching tools

Computer, beamer and blackboard 

Office hours

See the website of Giorgio Spada