Course-Related Readings

Lecture 1 (Introduction):

You should review the governing equations for the atmosphere on a sphere, as we will be drawing upon these equations in subsequent lessons.

Module 1: Zero-Dimensional Energy Balance Model

Lectures 2-3 (Global Energy Balance; Greenhouse Effect; The Zero-Dimensional Energy Balance Model):

Zero-Dimensional EBM description (from A Climate Modeling Primer by McGuffie and Henderson-Sellers)

Lectures 4-7 (Climate Sensitivity; Modeling Historical Temperature Changes; Projecting Future Warming):

Mann, M.E., False Hope, Scientific American, 310, 78-81, 2014.

Module 2: One-Dimensional Energy Balance Model

Lectures 8-12 (Meridional energy balance; Atmospheric heat transport; One-Dimensional Energy Balance Model; Snowball Earth; Hysteresis):

One-Dimensional EBM description (from A Climate Modeling Primer by McGuffie and Henderson-Sellers)

Lecture 13 (Special Topic: Climate Change & Extreme Weather):

Mann, M.E., The Weather Amplifier, Scientific American, 310, 78-81, 2014.

Module 3: Role of Ocean Circulation

Lectures 14-15 (The AMOC; The Stommel Two-Box Model):

Discussion of Stommel (1961) Two Box Model of AMOC (section 11.4.2 in Haldvogel & Bryan chapter of Climate System Modeling, edited by K. Trenberth)

Lecture 16 (“The Day After Tomorrow”; The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation):

“What’s Going on in the North Atlantic” by Stefan Rahmstorf, RealClimate.org

(you might also check out the original article in Nature Climate Change by Rahmstorf et al).

Lectures 17-18 (Stommel Model of Ocean Gyre; Ocean Gyres and Heat Transport; The Pacific Decadal Oscillation):

Discussion of Stommel (1948) Model of Subtropical Gyre (section 11.4.1 in Haldvogel & Bryan chapter of Climate System Modeling, edited by K. Trenberth)

(you might also check out the original Stommel (1948) article).

Wikipedia page on the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (“PDO”).

Skeptical Science commentary “Is Pacific Decadal Oscillation the Smoking Gun?”)

Module 4: The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

Lecture 20 (ENSO Basics):

Wikipedia page on the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (“ENSO”).

Lecture 21 (The Delayed-Oscillator Model):

Discussion of Delayed-Oscillator Mechanism (Section 18.3 in Cane chapter of Climate System Modeling, edited by K. Trenberth)

Lecture 22 (The Cane-Zebiak Model):

Original Cane and Zebiak (1987) article: A Model El Nino-Southern Oscillation

Lecture 23 (Climate Change and El Nino):

Cane et al (1997) Science article, Twentieth Century Sea Surface Temperature Trends.

Module 5: Climate Modeling and Climate Change

Lecture 23 (Climate Models):

Original Hansen et al (1983) article, Efficient Three-Dimensional Global Models for Climate Studies.

(see also the ‘Ed GCM’ project description at Columbia University)