ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD TECHNIQUES

GEOG 2043, Fall 2002

Lecture TR 12:30-1:45 pm, GUGG 201e 
Lab T 12:30-3:50 pm

This course will introduce techniques used in

Instructor: John Pitlick
Office: Guggenheim 315
Office Hours: M 2 to 4 pm, T 4 to 6 pm
E-mail:pitlick@spot.colorado.edu

Teaching Assistant: Mark McLean
Room: Guggenheim 311
Office Hours: M T 3-5 pm
E-mail: Mark.Mclean@Colorado.edu

About the class:

This is a sophmore level course for students who are interested in learning field techniques used in geography and environmental sciences. The course is structured around field trips where we introduce you to various techniques, including streamflow measurements, topographic surveying, mapping with the Global Positioning System (GPS), and soils analysis. In addition to field work, the course emphasizes basic mathematical and computational skills necessary to interpret data collected in the field; these skills include spreadsheet operations, data retrieval from remote sites, and statistical analysis. This course can take the place of Maps and Mapping as a departmental requirement for Geography majors and it satisfies the field course requirement in Environmental Studies.

Prerequisites

NONE; however, we recommend that you take GEOG 1001, 1011, or equivalent courses in geology and biology before taking this course.

Textbook

NONE; relevant material will be distributed in class and posted on the course web site.


Grading

Your course grade will be determined as follows:
The exams will cover material from lectures and lab assignments. Test questions will be short answer with some calculations. No make-up exams will be given. If you miss a midterm exam and have a legitimate excuse, I will give you a score equal to your grade on the other midterm. If you cannot explain your absence, you will get a score of zero.

Attendance in lab is mandatory, and similar rules apply: If you miss a lab without discussing it with us in advance, then you will receive a score of zero for that lab. If a problem arises and you cannot attend a particular lab, then you need to inform us in advance.


LECTURE SCHEDULE: Fall 2002

Date

Topics

Assignments
27-29 Aug Techniques Overview No Lab
5 Sept Basic Mathematics Lab 1: Web & Excel
10-12 Sept Applications in Hydrology Lab 2: Discharge Measurement I
17-19 Sept " Lab 3: Discharge Measurement II
24-26 Sept Basic Trigonometry Lab 4: Surveying I 
1-3 Oct Applications in Geomorphology Lab 5: Surveying II
8 Oct MIDTERM I Fall Break 
15-17 Oct Global Positioning System (GPS) Lab 6: GPS I
22-24 Oct " Lab 7: Field Mapping with GPS
29-31 Oct  Applications of GPS  Lab 8: GPS data reduction and analysis
5-7 Nov " Lab 9: Contouring with ArcView
12-14 Nov Soil Chartacteristics & MIDTERM II Lab 10: Field Measurements of Soil Moisture
19-21 Nov Basic Statistics Lab 11: Comparison of Means
26 Nov " Thanksgiving
3-5 Dec " Lab 12: Linear Regression
10-12 Dec Review No Lab

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