GEOGG130 Climate Dynamics

CORE GEOGG130 - Climate Dynamics
(15 credits)

Term 1 (2013)

Staff: Chris Brierley

Aim:

To introduce the students to the physical basis of climate change.

Content:

The module will cover:

• The global energy budget.
• Mechanisms of poleward heat transport.
• Fundamental interactions between atmosphere and ocean.
• The major modes of climate variability
• The role of atmospheric greenhouse gases.
• The effects of increased greenhouse emissions due to human activity.
• The changes in both regional and global climate due to other human activities.
• Discussions of “hot topics” in climate change: extreme events; the reliability and communication of climate science; national and global policies to limit emissions and geoengineering; the creation of observed climate fields.

Assessment:

A written report on an independent analysis of climate data (70%) and a 1000 word essay (30%)

Format:

The module is based on lectures, class discussion and computer practicals.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module, students should:

• be able to describe the broad features of the Earth’s climate.
• have an appreciation for the complexity of feedbacks between the different elements of the climate system.
• have an understanding of the different forcing factors that influence climate over a range of time-scales.
• have an appreciation of the complexity of modelling future climate change.

• have an awareness of the difficulties in predicting future impacts of climate change.
• be able to investigate climate relationships from original data sources.