The test will require you to interpret data in the light on information covered in the first 3 weeks of lectures and tutorial readings.

The major assignment for ENVS804 is to write a review article suitable for submission to the journal Nature Climate Change.

Nature Climate Change is the most widely read peer-reviewed journal in the environmental sciences (impact factor of 14.472) and covers all aspects of research on global warming.

Many articles on global warming appearing in popular press, such as “Surf's down: climate change likely to bring fewer big waves” (Sydney Morning Herald 9-3-2014), are based on peer reviewed research published in journals such as Nature Climate Change.

Your task is to select a weather or climatic phenomenon—this can be a type of extreme weather event such as tropical cyclones, or a large-scale phenomenon such as El Niño Southern Oscillation—and write a review article suitable for submission to Nature Climate Change.

Author guidelines for a review article can be found on the Nature Climate Change website (For Authors>Guide to Authors>Content types>1.2 Review Article).

Prior to selecting your topic you should read some existing review articles to gain an appreciation of the type and standard of article expected: a good example would be:

Turner, A. G. & Annamalai, H. Climate change and the South Asian summer monsoon. Nature Publishing Group 2, 587–595 (2012).

In your article you should:

• address current knowledge and uncertainties surrounding your selected phenomenon
• detail how your selected phenomenon is expected to change (including uncertainties) over the next 100-years with reference to current research and the latest IPCC report
• focus on the implications to the environment, society and to the economy
• discuss the viability of any proposed mitigation or adaptation policies.

You may use previously published figures where appropriate; however, at least one of your figures must be produced by you, using data obtained from a reliable source. An example would be plotting cyclone frequency over the past ~100-years from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology tropical cyclone database.

Your article—including word length, number of figures and citation style—must conform to the Nature Climate Change Author Guidelines for a Review Article.

You must submit your assignment via Turnitin.

The examination will consist of multiple choice, short answers and a choice of essay questions.

This will test your ability to appropriately use terminology, concepts and contemporary climate change issues learnt in lectures tutorials/practical, subject readings as well as materials that have been uploaded on the ENVS804 iLearn Discussion Forum.