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Unit of Study GLY93010 - Frontiers in Marine Science II - Physical and Chemical Oceanography (2017)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Pre-requisites

    N/A

  • Co-requisites

    N/A

  • Anti-requisites

    N/A

  • Enrolment information

    Offered only at the National Marine Science Centre in a three-week intensive mode, which includes a compulsory 6-day residential held outside normal external residential weeks. Please refer to http://scu.edu.au/timetables for further information on timetables.

Unit description

This unit provides students with information about highly topical developments in physical and chemical oceanography. It will provide a primary mechanism for informing students about critical developments within this field, especially capturing specialized topics that are not dealt with in detail in other units within the award. Each topic will be delivered by staff members with expertise and current projects in the nominated research field. 

Unit content

Five topics will be covered in each year, and will be drawn from the following:

  • Palaeo-environmental change
  • Chemical properties of seawater, such as salinity, temperature and pH, nutrient dynamics
  • Interactions between the ocean and atmosphere
  • Large-scale dynamics (e.g. ocean currents, eddy effect)
  • Small-scale turbulence (e.g. internal waves, micro-scale effects)
  • Air-sea interaction
  • Carbon cycling and biogeochemistry (including Climate Change and Ocean acidification)
  • Remote sensing of the ocean
  • Ocean-ice interactions.
  • Sea level over time

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
National Marine Science Centre Coffs Harbour Session 2 Session 2

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

GA1: Intellectual rigour, GA2: Creativity, GA3: Ethical practice, GA4: Knowledge of a discipline, GA5: Lifelong learning, GA6: Communication and social skills, GA7: Cultural competence
Learning outcome count Learning outcome description GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 Demonstrate an advanced understanding of highly topical issues in oceanography
2 Apply knowledge of contemporary oceanographic issues in laboratory and/ or field settings
3 Critically evaluate a range of research methodologies for answering key scientific questions
4 Synthesize information and present this as a professional report

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of highly topical issues in oceanography
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  2. Apply knowledge of contemporary oceanographic issues in laboratory and/ or field settings
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
    • GA5:
  3. Critically evaluate a range of research methodologies for answering key scientific questions
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
    • GA5:
  4. Synthesize information and present this as a professional report
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
    • GA5:

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • No prescribed texts.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.