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Course Description: The aim of this
course is to explore the hierarchy of models used to
investigate and understand the atmosphere-ocean-earth
climate system. Our goal is to explore the range of
models available for climate research, assessing the
strengths and weaknesses of each class of models and
developing a sense of which model(s) are most
appropriate for answering different research questions.
The course will be focused more on the atmosphere, but
seek to incorporate key impacts of the oceans and land
surface effects on climate. We'll begin with simple
energy balance model of the earth system, and work our
way up dynamical, atmosphere only models, and finally,
in the end, discuss the coupled models used for climate
prediction. We will investigate the importance of model
numerics and resolution, parameterization schemes
(radiation, convection, boundary layer, gravity waves,
land use, etc.), and the topic of climate sensitivity.
Students will be expected to read papers and material on
the subject and complete a course project, where they
will run and analyze the output of a climate model to
investigate a research question.
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