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| Final exam: Saturday, December 17, 8 am - 10am, 575 McCone Hall PLEASE NOTE: the venue is different from that listed in the Cal final exam schedule. |
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| Instructor: John Chiang email: jchiang@atmos.berkeley.edu office phone: 642-3900 office: 547 McCone office hours: MTW 11:10-12 |
Class Location: 575 McCone Class Time: MW, 9:30-11 Course control number: 36526 Units: 4 |
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| Click here to download course syllabus as a pdf file |
| The goal of this course is for a conceptual basis for understanding of how earth's present climate comes about and how the various components of the climate system (atmosphere, land, ocean, cryosphere) interact to do so. The hope is that the successful student would be able to apply this knowledge to understand how change to the climate system can come about. Specific topics: observations of the climate system; the earth's energy balance; atmospheric radiative transfer; the surface energy balance; the hydrologic cycle; atmospheric circulation and its relation to the energy balance; the role of the ocean and the cryosphere. Additional topics, as time permits, will cover natural and anthropogenic climate change, and climate feedback and sensitivity. |
| Midterm: The midterm will be in class sometime during week 7 or 8 (Oct 10 - 19). Final: TBA |
| Grades (approximate): Homeworks and class project 30%, Midterm 30%, Final 40% |
| Course Requirements: 3 hours of lecture per week; several homework assignments, class project, midterm and final. |
| Prerequisites: Concepts in physics are used in the text, so knowledge a the level of first course in undergraduate physics is highly recommended. Basic calculus will be helpful. Please see me ASAP if you are uncertain of the your background. |
| Texts: The course will follow the primary text (Hartmann), with supplementary material from other texts or instructor’s notes. Required text: Global Physical Climatology. Academic Press, 1994. Copies will be on reserve at the Earth Science and Map Library. The ASUC bookstore has copies for sale. Helpful references (available in Earth Sciences and Map Library): Aguado and Burt, Understanding Weather and Climate Barry RG and RJ Chorley, Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate Open University Course Team Staff: “Ocean circulation” Peixoto JP and AH Oort, Physics of Climate, AIP, 1992 Wallace, J. M. and P.V. Hobbs, Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey. Academic Press, 1977. |
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| Course Outline: subject to change. The chapters refer to GPC |
| 1. Introduction & observations of the climate system (Chapter 1): Atmospheric temperature. Atmospheric composition. Hydrostatic balance. Atmospheric humidity. Ocean, land, cryosphere. |
| 2. The earth’s energy balance (Chapter 2): orbital characteristics of the earth and distribution of insolation. Concept of energy balance as applied to the earth: first law of thermodynamics; emission temperature, greenhouse effects, distribution of insolation, top of atmosphere energy balance, poleward heat transport. |
| 3. Atmospheric radiative transfer (Chapter 3): physics of electromagnetic radiation; Planck’s law. Absorption and emission of radiation by gases. Radiative transfer. Radiative and radiative-convective equilibrium. Role of clouds and cloud feedback. |
| 4. Surface energy balance (Chapter 4): Surface energy budget: radiative, latent and sensible fluxes. Heat storage at the surface. The atmospheric boundary layer. Fluxes and its dependence on surface characteristics. Diurnal and seasonal variations. |
| 5. Atmospheric circulation (Chapter 6): how the circulation is set up and how it is related to the global energy balance. Equations of motion. Hydrostatic and geostrophic balance. The zonal mean circulation and meridional heat transport. Large scale circulation patterns. (Here I'll deviate somewhat from Hartmann and include more detail on the general circulation of the atmosphere). |
| 6. Ocean circulation and its relationship to climate (Chapter 7): Properties of seawater. Processes in the ocean mixed layer that determines its temperature and circulation. Its relationship to deeper waters and the thermohaline circulation. Meridional heat transport in the ocean. |
| 7. The cryosphere. Observed characteristics and relationship to the energy balance. Ice sheets and glaciers, sea ice, snow, permafrost. Ice-albedo feedback. |
| As time permits, we will cover one or more of these topics: • Climate sensitivity and feedback • Natural climate change: examples of interannual and decadal variability of climate (e.g. El Nino-Southern Oscillation, and the North Atlantic Oscillation). Paleoclimate change (e.g. Climate of the last glacial maximum). • Anthropogenic climate change |
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Notes (Lecture notes download as pdf files
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Handouts/Homeowork
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Reading
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| Week 1 | |||
| M, 8/29 | Introduction | syllabus | |
| W, 8/31 | Observations of the climate system | Handout 1.2.1 Handout 1.2.2 |
GPC 1.1-1.5 & appendix B |
| Week 2 | |||
| M, 9/5 | Labor Day - no class | ||
| W, 9/7 | Observations of the climate system | Homework 1 due W, 9/14 |
GPC 1.5-1.8 |
| Week 3 | |||
| M, 9/12 | Global energy balance I | Handout 3.1.1 Handout 3.1.2 |
GPC 2.1-2.6 |
| W, 9/14 | Global energy balance II | Homework 2 Due M, 9/26 |
GPC - Ch. 2 complete |
| Week 4 | |||
| M, 9/19 | Atmospheric radiative transfer I | Handout 4.1.1 Homework 1-solutions |
GPC 3.1-3.5 |
| W, 9/21 | Atmospheric radiative transfer II | Handout 4.2.1 Handout 4.2.2 Handout 4.2.3 |
GPC 3.1-3.5 plus handouts on radiative transfer |
| Week 5 | |||
| M, 9/26 | Atmospheric radiative transfer III | Handout 5.1.1 Handout 5.1.2 |
GPC 3.8-3.10 GPC appendix C and handout on static stability |
| W, 9/28 | Atmospheric radiative transfer IV | Homework 3 Homework 3 addendum |
GPC 3.9-3.10, Appendix C, and Wallace and Hobbs handout |
| Week 6 | |||
| M, 10/3 | Role of clouds and aerosols in atmospheric radiation and climate |
Handout 6.1.1 Handout 6.1.2 Homework 2-solutions |
GPC 3.12 and handouts on aerosols Appendix C, and Wallace and Hobbs handout |
| W, 10/5 | Interannual Variability (Guest lecturer: Dr. Hugo Lambert) |
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| Week 7 | |||
| M, 10/10 | Surface energy balance I | GPC 4.1-4.5 (but omit 4.5.1) | |
| W, 10/12 | Surface energy balance II | Homework 3-solutions | GPC 4.5-4.10 |
| Week 8 | |||
| M, 10/17 | Midterm Review | ||
| W, 10/19 | Midterm exam (in class) | ||
| Week 9 | |||
| M, 10/24 | Atmospheric circulation I | Handout 9.1.1 | GPC 6.1-6.3.2 |
| W, 10/26 | Atmospheric circulation II | Homework 4 due Mon., Nov. 7 |
Read handout from M, 10/24 |
| Week 10 | |||
| M, 10/31 | Atmospheric circulation III | GPC 6.2,6.3 | |
| W, 11/2 | Atmospheric circulation IV | Handout 10.2.1 The rotating tank experiments for aroclinic instability (expt XI) and the Taylor columns (expt VII) can be found on an MIT web site: http://www-paoc.mit.edu/labweb/ |
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| Week 11 | |||
| M, 11/7 | Ocean Circulation I | GPC 7.1-7.4 | |
| W, 11/9 | Ocean Circulation II | Homework 5 due Wed., Nov. 23 |
GPC 7.4-7.6 For 7.5, just read 7.5.1 (ignore 7.5.2) Don't worry about the mathematical details - just understand how to interpret equations 7.1 and 7.2, and equation 7.6 |
| Week 12 | |||
| M, 11/14 | Ocean Circulation III | Homework 4 - solutions | GPC 7.6,7.7 |
| W, 11/16 | Cryosphere and Climate guest lecturer - Kurt Cuffey | Sections on 'Glaciers' and 'Sea ice' Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Sciences (handed out in class) |
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| Week 13 | |||
| M, 11/21 | Global warming I | Handout 13.1.1 | IPCC Summary for policymakers: Handout13.1 |
| W, 11/23 | Global Warming II |
Handout 13.2.1 | |
| Week 14 | |||
| M, 11/28 | Student Presentations: | Homework 5 - solutions | |
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| W, 11/30 | Student Presentations: | Handout - 2003 final exam | |
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| Week 15 | |||
| M, 12/5 | No lecture | ||
| W, 12/7 | Wrap-up and review | Final exam equations sheet | |
| Week 16 Finals Week | |||
| Final exam: Saturday, December 17, 8 am - 10am, 575 McCone Hall PLEASE NOTE: the venue is different from that listed in the Cal final exam schedule. |
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