Complete Syllabus (Spring 2014)
Lectures:
Thursdays, 4:30-7:10pm, Innovation Hall 338
Goals of Course
This graduate course will survey the scientific issues
associated with global climate change. The course will examine physical
phenomena that determine the Earth's climate, its variability, and how
it changes in response to changes in the external influences and the
composition of the atmosphere. The course will cover the latest
available scientific information about global climate change,
using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report
as a primary source. The variability and change observed over the past 150
years and projected by climate model simulations for the next century
will be the main focus, although some attention will be paid to climates
of the distant past (paleoclimate).
This class will discuss:
Student Presentations
In addition to participating in class lectures and discussions,
students will have the opportunity to do some research on recent
findings in climate change. Each student will give a brief presentation
that contains a summary of a selected paper from the current
scientific literature and may also include an analysis of
observational data and climate model output. One set of student
presentations will be before the midterm and the second set will be
after the midterm. A list of possible topics/papers from which
students may choose will be made available for each half of the
semester.
The presentations should include, as appropriate:
Lecture Notes
(N.B. Lecture notes will be posted as they become available.
The order and titles of lectures may depart from the listing shown.)
Problem Sets
Climate Dynamics Graduate Courses
Last modified: January 2016