Spring 2027

Natural Hazards and Disasters

Explores the science behind natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes, addressing hazard assessment, forecasting, and mitigation to lessen societal impact.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 7

Past student reviews · Shaun Marcott

One student reported that the course had no midterm or final, consisting instead of six quizzes and a few exercises. They noted that getting an A was not too hard with a little work.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify the underlying physical earth processes causing hazards including extreme weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, landslides among others.

  • Define hazard and risk and explain the difference between the two concepts.

  • Apply methods of hazard mitigation and quantitative risk assessment.

  • Utilize probabilistic forecasting of extreme events and their relative risks.

  • Recognize the effects of anthropogenic climate change on hazard and risk due to changes in severity or frequency of hazardous events.

  • Evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and trade-offs among different policy responses to perceived hazards.

  • Recognize how extreme events are related to the physical and chemical processes that form and shape our planet.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
ATMOCN/GEOSCI 140 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

SHAUN MARCOTT is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TERI BOUNDY is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Shaun Marcott

Past students found the course engaging and rewarding, particularly for those interested in natural hazards or seeking a manageable science credit. Instructors kept large lecture groups interested with straightforward slides.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.55 GPA, 77.9% A/AB (n=154 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.47 GPA, 73.5% A/AB (n=166 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.50 GPA, 73.3% A/AB (n=15 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Shaun Marcott

One student reported that the course had no midterm or final, consisting instead of six quizzes and a few exercises. They noted that getting an A was not too hard with a little work.

Past student reviews · Shaun Marcott

Shaun Marcott was described as caring and effective at making sometimes boring material worth listening to. However, one student found his tandem professor, Singer, to be the most boring instructor they had encountered.

Topics

  • Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods.
  • Hazard assessment, forecasting, and mitigation.
  • Effects of anthropogenic climate change on hazard and risk.

Skills

  • Apply methods of hazard mitigation and quantitative risk assessment.
  • Utilize probabilistic forecasting of extreme events and their relative risks.
  • Evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and trade-offs among different policy responses to perceived hazards.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ATMOCN/GEOSCI 140 · Spring 2027

Natural Hazards and Disasters

Recorded 2026-10-14
ATMOCN/GEOSCI 140 · Spring 2027

Natural Hazards and Disasters

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:420:024831",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/GEOSCI 140",
    "course_uid": "course_ec84447d55dd1d711398b57c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024831",
    "source_subject_id": "420",
    "title": "Natural Hazards and Disasters",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:640:024831",
    "course_id": "ATMOCN/GEOSCI 140",
    "course_uid": "course_ec84447d55dd1d711398b57c",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024831",
    "source_subject_id": "640",
    "title": "Natural Hazards and Disasters",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "d2cd9ab730c3b2734608268f2a36c7b332d9b90ee1233f87208d2cfbe6ce8d6c",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}