2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
Introduction to Water and Mass Transport in the Environment
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Tsuyoshi Kinouchi
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Class
- -
- Course Code
- TSE.A314
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 24, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course is designed to understand the spacial-temporal transport of water and other substances on the earth, as well as its causal factors and related phenomena. Also, through this course, you learn the fundamental laws dominating phenomena relevant to the transport and their mathematical descriptions. In addition, you will be able to understand the whole system and the analytical methods to solve a given system. Furthermore, you learn the practical aspects for managing the transport of water and mass, and the impacts of human activities and climate change on it.
Course description and aims
Through this course, you will obtain the knowledge and capability about:
1) How water and various other substances are transported or circulated spacial-temporally, and what factors and phenomena affect the transport and circulation.
2) What laws dominates phenomena regarding the transport and circulation of water and other substances, and how these laws are described.
3) Analyitical methods for solving the transport and circulation of water and other substances in practical situations.
4) the management regarding the transport and cirluation of water and other substances, and the influences from human activities and climate change.
Keywords
Water and mass transport, global scale, regional scale, atmosphere, ocean, geosphere, human activity
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
In the introduction part, we focus on current issues and future perspectives regarding the transport and circulation of water and related substances, and we try to understand the actual conditions of the transport and circulation of water and other substances in atmosphere, ocean and land (lectures 1 to 3). In the next part, we learn the physical laws and their mathematical descriptions dominating the transport of water and mass (lectures 4 to 7). Finally, For evaluation, exercises during lecture and final exam will be given.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction and understanding water cycle in the atmosphere | Learn about environmental and resource issues related with water and mass transport system. Furthermore, understand how water is transported and circulated in the atmosphere. |
| Class 2 | Understanding water cycle in the geosphere | Understand how water is transported and circulated in the geosphere. |
| Class 3 | Understanding mass transport in the environment | Understand how mass is transported with water cycle in the environment. |
| Class 4 | Principles of water and mass transport in the environment | Understand the principles of water and mass transport in the environment for systematic approach. |
| Class 5 | Representation of water transport system in the environment (1) | Understand how individual processes in the water transport system (evaporation, evapo-transpiration and precipitation) are formulated and how the elements behave. |
| Class 6 | Representation of water transport system in the environment (2) | Understand how individual processes in the water transport system (infiltration and groundwater flow) are formulated and how the elements behave. |
| Class 7 | Representation of water transport system in the environment (3) | Understand how individual processes in the water transport system (overland flow and channel flow) are formulated and how the elements behave. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Textbooks are specified by the instructor.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Supplemental materials are specified by the instructor. Lecture notes are distributed if necessary.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Evaluate by the exercise report (60%) and final exam or final report (40%).
Related courses
- None
Prerequisites
None