When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Polar Peril

Ends tomorrow! Save on skills that make you shine with 40% off 3 months of Coursera Plus. Save now

Polar Peril

Name: Polar Peril
Rating: 4.866666666666666 (15 reviews)

This course is part of Arctic Meltdown Specialization

Instructor: Mark C. Serreze

Included with

Learn more

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

15 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

7 hours to complete

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

15 reviews

Beginner level

No prior experience required

7 hours to complete

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Identify the rapid environmental changes unfolding in the Arctic, the processes underlying these changes, and how they are related to each other
Evaluate and critique the evidence for past climate changes in the Arctic and projections of change through the 21 st century

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

5 assignments

Taught in English

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

Learn more about Coursera for Business

logos of Petrobras, TATA, Danone, Capgemini, P&G and L'Oreal

Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Arctic Meltdown Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 5 modules in this course

This course takes a detailed look at the remarkable changes unfolding in the Arctic environment, including the shrinking Arctic sea ice cover, shrinking land ice, thawing permafrost and cascading impacts on Arctic ecosystems. After a review of Arctic climates of the past, attention turns to the possible future of the Arctic’s climate and environment.

Module details

The Arctic is home to some of our planet's most visible indicators of climate change and we'll learn all about them in this module. Notable among these are the shrinking Arctic sea ice cover and the stronger warming of the Arctic compared to the rest of the globe, a phenomenon known as "Arctic Amplification". We'll then look at how the Arctic permafrost - perennially frozen ground - is warming and thawing. Finally, attention will turn to a direct threat to Arctic residents - coastal erosion and how it is tied to sea ice loss, ocean warming and warming permafrost.

What's included

5 videos1 reading1 assignment

The Arctic is home to the Greenland ice sheet, one of the planet's two ice sheets (the other is the Antarctic ice sheet) as well as many ice caps and glaciers. With few exception, these ice bodies are losing mass and contributing to sea level rise. Here we'll learn all about the Arctic's shrinking land ice, including the complexity of processes affecting the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet, and the sad story of the disappearance of the two small ice caps that your instructor studied back in the early 1980s.

What's included

4 videos1 assignment

Here, we'll discover how changes in the Arctic are having cascading effects not just within the Arctic, but beyond the region. There is is evidence, albeit still controversial, that the strong warming of the Arctic, known as Arctic amplification, can influence weather patterns in middle latitudes. We'll see that the Arctic itself is experiencing extreme weather events. We'll also explore how treeless, windswept tundra is being taken over by shrubs, and how the loss of sea ice is is having impacts cascading through the marine food chain from phytoplankton to top predators like the polar bear.

What's included

4 videos1 assignment

A key part of understanding recent climate change in the Arctic, as well as where the Arctic may be headed, is to understand climates of the past - the realm of paleoclimatology. Here, we'll learn about the science of paleoclimatology, different types of paleoclimate data and some of the causes of past climate changes. The Arctic turns out to be a rich course of paleoclimate data. Then we'll focus on climates from the past million years up to the modern period, noting the tremendous changes that have occurred in the Arctic and elsewhere, setting the stage for a peek into the future.

What's included

4 videos1 assignment

This week, we'll first learn that while climate models are a key tools for making projections about the future Arctic, they also have biases and uncertainties. We'll then take a look at projected changes in temperature, precipitation and sea ice. We'll see that the Arctic is expected to continue to warm more strongly than the rest of the planet, that Arctic precipitation is likely to increase and that the sea ice cover will continue to shrink. However, it will also become clear that the magnitude of these changes will very much depend on human behavior - specifically, future rates of fossil fuel burning. Finally, we'll look at the permafrost carbon feedback, and its potential to lead to further warming of the planet.