Modeling the carbon cycle of the anthropocene part of Activity Collection
Students use an Excel sheet to complete forward and inverse models of changes in carbon distribution between atmosphere, ocean and the biosphere from 1751 to the present and several centuries into the future. The model is given as a mostly complete package, into which students input emissions data in various sensitivity tests.

An Assessment of Hillslope Stability Using the Factor of Safety part of Activity Collection
In this homework assignment students are asked to consider the balance of forces on a hill slope using the Factor of Safety.

Comparing Carbon Calculators part of Teaching Methods:Teaching with Data:Examples
Carbon calculators, no matter how well intended as tools to help measure energy footprints, tend to be black boxes and can produce wildly different results, depending on the calculations used to weigh various ...

Carbon Sequestration in Campus Trees part of Teaching Methods:Teaching with SSAC:Examples
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students use allometric relationships to calculate tree mass from trunk diameter in a stand of trees in the Pacific Northwest.

Vostok Ice Core: Excel (Mac or PC) part of Teaching Methods:Mathematical and Statistical Models:Examples
Students use Excel to graph and analyze Vostok ice core data (160,000 years of Ice core data from Vostok Station). Data includes ice age, ice depth, carbon dioxide, methane, dust, and deuterium isotope relative abundance.

Using a Mass Balance Model to Understand Carbon Dioxide and its Connection to Global Warming part of Activity Collection
Students explore the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 40 years with an interactive on-line model.

What is the fate of CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion? part of Activity Collection
A box model is used to simulate the build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the industrial era and predict the future increase in atmospheric CO2 levels during the next century.

Estimating Exchange Rates of Water in Embayments using Simple Budget Equations. part of Activity Collection
Simple budgets may be used to estimate the exchange of water in embayments that capitalize on the concept of steady state and conservation principals. This is especially true for bays that experience a significant exchange of freshwater. This exchange of freshwater may reduce the average salt concentration in the bay compared to seawater if it involves addition of freshwater from rivers, R, and/or precipitation, P. Alternatively, it may increase the average salt concentration in the bay compared to seawater if there is relatively little river input and high evaporation, E. Since freshwater input changes the salt concentration in the bay, and salt is a conservative material, it is possible to combine two steady state budgets for a bay, one for salt and one for water, to solve for the magnitude of the water flows that enter and exit the bay mouth. Students will make actual calculations for the inflow and outflow of water to Puget Sound, Washington and the Mediterranean Sea and compare them to actual measured values.

Flood Frequency and Risk Assessment part of Activity Collection
Students calculate recurrence intervals for various degrees of flooding based on historical data. Students then do a risk assessment for the surrounding community.

Two streams, two stories... How Humans Alter Floods and Streams part of Activity Collection
An activity/lab where students determine the changes in 100-year flood determinations for 2 streams over time.