Earth System Science Program aims to explore, understand, communicate and teach the Earth as a planet, its complex processes, past and future evolution and interactions with society. The main goal is briefly "Integrated Understanding of Earth Systems". This requires inter-, multi-, cross-, and trans-disciplinary approaches. Understanding our planet will be a fundamental challenge for the scientific community for future. Almost every practical aspect of society -population, environment, economics, politics- are and will be increasingly impacted by our relationship with the Earth. The other challenge is to achieve an appropriate balance between developing natural resources and maintaining an optimal natural environment. To meet this challenge, people need detailed and reliable geo-information and geo-information management tools. The need for the programs exists because human after the industrial revolution modified the global environment faster than they understood the consequences of their changes. The major theme of the program is therefore sustainability, defined as meeting human needs and values while preserving and improving the planets life-support systems.

The objectivs are:

• To address the growing national, regional and global demand for trained professionals in Earth System Science and its very wide applications,
• To generate academic platform that support interdisciplinary and research-oriented approach for understanding and evaluating the systems originating from nature and human,
• To study the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere, including their interaction and interrelationships with the biosphere and antraposhere,
• To do research on the subjects that effect life on the Earth system directly such as climate change, global warming, using and wasting of natural resources, land use, environmental degradation, biodiversity change,...,
• To investigate climate changes in the past and nowadays and to advance prediction models, scenerios related with future climate and to develop strategy about problem solving by means of analytic thinking approach on the problems related with sudden climate changes, natural disasters, pollution, ...,
• To do research on planning and improving economy politics and decision making for climate change and its impacts, adaptation to these impacts, sustainable development, alleviation of poverty in natural / unnatural disasters, rational use of natural resources, to understand the social and societal issues.

Graduates of Faculties of Engineering, Social Sciences and Science Departments, those working on this subject in the ministries like Energy and Natural Resources, Environment and Forestry, General Directorate of Meteorology and in Policy Making Institutions can apply for graduate studies in the ESS Program.

Graduates of the Program will have a strong background in the theory and application of Earth Systems Science. In this respect, to develop and implement new and sustainable policies for the environment, energy and economy since these issues have become crucial, both on national and global scales for maintaining a sustainable World. Graduates of the Program will be well equipped for jobs in the areas of impact assessment of climate change and future predictions, environmental protection, natural resource management and policies.

To reach the above stated goals ESS program has established three tracks of study and research. Students choosing one of the three tracks are required to take the necessary courses as well as completing a thesis in that track. Those students enrolled in non-thesis programs will take the necessary courses within the scope of the relevant track and complete a term project. The three tracks of the Program are: 

Tracks in ESS Program
Track No	Area	Program Type
	Earth System Science	M.Sc. and Ph.D.
	Earth System Modeling	M.Sc. and Ph.D.
	Energy, Environmental Economics and Policy	M.Sc., Ph.D. and  M.Sc. Without Thesis