ATOC 7500: Climate Dynamics: Why Does Climate Vary?

Synopsis

The course covers the dynamics of climatic phenomena on a range of time-scales to illuminate the role of dynamics in climate change and variability. These phenomena include the Madden-Julian Oscillation, the Monsoons, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Medieval Climate Anomaly, the Little Ice Age, and the recent Global Warming. Along the way, key mathematical tools are introduced with the aim to better equip the students in their own pursue of a deeper understanding of why the state of the system has varied in the way we have observed and how it may change in the future.

Syllabus

08/29	Introduction and Overview: Goals, Approaches, Road Maps, and a Few Other Things
09/05	The Climate System: Components, Interactions, Forces, Circulations, and Instabilities
09/12	The Madden-Julian Oscillation: Organization of Weather Events Over the Warm Oceans
09/19	The Madden-Julian Oscillation: Organization of Weather Events Over the Warm Oceans
09/26	The Monsoons: A Seasonal Dialogue Between the Land and the Adjacent Oceans
10/03	The Monsoons: A Seasonal Dialogue Between the Land and the Adjacent Oceans
10/10	The El Nino-Southern Oscillation: Coupling between the Atmosphere and the Ocean in the Presence of Nonlinearity
10/17	The El Nino-Southern Oscillation: Coupling between the Atmosphere and the Ocean in the Presence of Nonlinearity
10/24	Midterm Exam
10/31	The Pacific Decadal Oscillation: Noise Integration, Nonlinear Rectification, and Scale Interaction
11/07	The Pacific Decadal Oscillation: Noise Integration, Nonlinear Rectification and Scale Interaction
11/14	The Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age: Thermolhaline Circulation and the Tropical-Extratropical Interaction
11/21	Fall Break
11/28	The Recent Global Warming: Observations, Theories, and the Science and Art of Modeling
12/05	AGU Fall Meeting
12/12	The Recent Global Warming: Observations, Theories, and the Science and Art of Modeling
12/19	Final Exam ( 3:00 pm--5:00 pm; STAD 136C)