Es2007 Es8007 Es7013 Courseoutline 4x5e32

ES2007/ES8007/ES7013 Climate and Climate Change Lecture Course Content

last updated on 14 Jan 2014

* This outline is subject to changes as the course proceeds, while details are incrementally specified appropriate to the level of progress of the class. * The lectures are demarcated by dashed lines below. * One lecture is of one-hour duration. 3 such lectures are conducted at each 3h-session. * The lectures and book references in brown and bold denote material examinable for graduate students only. But undergraduate students are encouraged to listen in for these lectures for “fun-filled enrichment”… * There are no tutorials but consultations with teaching assistants are conducted every week. References to course texts are meant as (examinable) supplementary reading to the lectures. They are listed to the right of the course content. The letters/numbers following the symbol “x§” refer to the chapters in the course texts below.  For graduate students only: 

a§ = An Introduction to Atmospheric Physics, by David G. Andrews

For all undergraduate and graduate students: b§ = Atmosphere, Weather and Climate, by Roger G. Barry and Richard J. Chorley d§ = Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast, by David Archer r§ = Earth's Climate: Past and Future, by William F. Ruddiman s§ = Summary for Policymakers, in Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis p§ = Press Release by IPCC AR5 Working Group I through IPCC Press Office http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/s/WGI-AR5_SPMPressRelease.pdf

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Introduction a. Course Briefing -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Earth’s Climate i. The Climate System lecture notes ii. Atmospheric Structure & Composition b§2.A.1-A.6, 2.C iii. Climate Variability & Change b§2.A.7, b§13.A; p§ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Video "Earth: The Inside Story" http://www.earthimage.org/Earth__Inside.html (note the two underscores)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2. Radiation a. Blackbody Radiation b§3.A; ` -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Albedo, Atmosphere-Radiation Interaction, b§3.B-3.E; Radiative Heating of the Earth a§3.3-3.6 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Radiative Energy Balance Model a§1.3, a§3.7

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3. Dynamics a. Pressure Force, Hydrostatic Balance b§2.B.1; a§2.3 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Atmospheric and Ocean Circulations b§7.B-7.D -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Coriolis Force, Geostrophic Balance, a§4.1-4.9 Thermal Wind Shear -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Warm-Up” Quiz (on Tuesday 4 February 2014 of Week 4) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4. Thermodynamics a. Ideal Gas Law, Vapour Pressure b§2.B; a§2.1, 2.7 b. Humidity, Condensation b§4.A-4.B, 4.D, Precipitation b§4.E.1-E.3, b§5.F Salinity lecture notes -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Potential Temperature, Parcel Theory lecture notes Convection a§2.4-2.5 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------d. Thermodynamic Energy Equation a§4.10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5. Numerical Modelling a. General Circulation Models b§8.A-8.C; a§8.1-.3 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Climate s b§13.B.2-B.3; d§7 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Climate Means, Variability and Extremes lecture notes -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6. Global Warming & Consequences a. Recent Climate Change b§13.D; s§A-D -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Climate Projections b§13.E-13.G; s§E -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Discussion -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RECESS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7. Earth’s climate in the deep time a. A quick overview of the climate system r§1, r§2 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. The faint young Sun paradox, snowball Earth r§4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

c. Geochemical toolbox -1 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8. Long-term carbon cycle a. Plate tectonics and carbon cycle r§5 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Greenhouse to icehouse r§6, r§7 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Geochemical toolbox -2 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Mid-semester” Test (on Tuesday 25 March 2014 of Week 10) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9. Ice ages a. Orbital-scale changes r§8, r§10 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Abrupt climatic changes r§15 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Monsoon and ENSO in paleoclimate records -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SPMS E-learning (in Week 12) 10. Climate and human evolution a. Out of Africa r§16 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Dawn of civilization r§16 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11. Future climate change a. Anthropogenic climate impact r§20 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------b. Geo-engineering r§20 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------c. Discussion -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FINAL EXAMINATION at 5pm on Tuesday 6 May 2014 – please check ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------