Climate Dynamics (METEO 470, 3 credits)

Course Syllabus for Spring 2019

Instructor: Michael E. Mann, Department of Meteorology, 514 Walker Building, mann@psu.edu (office hours: Wed 1:00-2:15 PM)

TA: Mingyu Park, 407 Walker Building, mup65@psu.edu (office hours, Monday 10:00-11:30 AM) and Thursday 2-3:30 PM) 

Meeting Time/Place: Tu/Th 10:35-11:50 AM (217 Hammond)

Office Hours: You are encouraged to use email for questions when possible. You are welcome to visit my office for questions during scheduled office hours (Wed 1:00-2:15 PM), or by appointment.

Motivation:

In order to under and model the climate system, we need to understand the balance of energy within the climate system as well as the dynamics of the underlying components of the climate system, including the atmosphere and ocean, and the mechanisms by which these components may be coupled. Topics discussed will include global energy balance, including zero and one-dimensional models of radiative equilibrium, the role of the ocean circulation including the thermohaline and wind-driven components, the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), internal and forced climate variability, and climate change.

Prerequisites: Meteo 300, Meteo 421, and Meteo 431

You are expected to be familiar with the governing equations (momentum and energy conservation, continuity, and equation of state) of the atmosphere on a sphere.

Webpage

We will regularly draw upon the course homepage as a resource for the course:

http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~mann/Mann/courses/METEO470SPR19/index.html

Aside from links to the course syllabus, there will be links to the readings, problem sets, slides from the lectures, and other course-related materials.

Lectures

Attendance of all lectures is expected. You are strongly encouraged to ask questions and participate constructively in class. Copies of slides from the lectures will usually be made available electronically through the course website before or shortly following the lecture.

Textbook

There is no required textbook. Some students might find Peixoto & Oort “Physics of Climate” a useful reference (it has been placed on reserve in the EMS library).

Supplementary readings from various sources will be posted on the course website.

Grading

Problem Sets (50%): There will be 4 problem sets assigned that will involve applications of topics covered in class. You may discuss the problems with each other, but the problem set you turn in should reflect your own individual effort. We will frequently make use MATLAB for assignments (MATLAB is available on the Meteorology Computer Lab Computers)

Mid-Term Exam (20%): There will be an in-class mid-term examination roughly mid-way through the semester (Feb 23).

Final Exam (30%): There will a final examination for the course at the scheduled time and date.

Grade Scale: A: 92-100%; A-: 88-91%; B+: 84-87%; B: 80-83%; B-: 75-79%; C+: 71-74%; C: 63-70%; D: 50-62%; F: <50%

Lecture Schedule (tentative and subject to change):

	DATE	LECTURE TOPIC	ASSIGNMENT
1	T Jan 8	Introduction
		Module 1: Zero-Dimensional Energy Balance Model
2	R Jan 10	Global Energy Balance; Greenhouse Effect	PS1 Assigned
3	T Jan 15	The Zero-Dimensional Energy Balance Model
4	R Jan 17	Climate Sensitivity
5	T Jan 22	Modeling Historical Temperature Changes
6	R Jan 24	Projecting Future Warming
G1	T Jan 29	Guest (J. Fuentes): Plant-emitted gases & role in climate system
	R Jan 31	Class Cancelled (due to weather!)
7	T Feb 5	Internal Variability & Red Noise	PS 1 Due
		Module 2: One-Dimensional Energy Balance Model
8	R Feb 7	Meridional Energy Balance	PS 2 Assigned
9	T Feb 12	Atmospheric heat transport
10	R Feb 14	The One-Dimensional Energy Balance Model
11	T Feb 19	Snowball Earth; Hysteresis
12	R Feb 21	Class Cancelled (due to weather!)
13	T Feb 26	Snowball Earth; Hysteresis (continued); Climate/Extreme Weather
	R Feb 28	Mid-term	PS 2 Due
	T Mar 5	No Class [Spring Break]
	R Mar 7	No Class [Spring Break]
		Module 3: The Role of Ocean Circulation
14	T Mar 12	The Stommel Box Model of the AMOC	PS 3 Assigned
15	R Mar 14	The Stommel Box Model of the AMOC (continued)
16	T Mar 19	“The Day After Tomorrow” scenario; The AMO
17	R Mar 21	Stommel Model of Ocean Gyre
18	T Mar 26	Ocean Gyres and Heat Transport; The PDO
19	R Mar 28	Ocean Gyres and Heat Transport; The PDO (cont)	PS 3 Due
		Module 4: The El Nino/Southern Oscillation
20	T Apr 2	ENSO basics	PS 4 Assigned
21	R Apr 4	The Delayed-Oscillator Model
G2	T Apr 9	Guest (J. Salinger): Climate Drivers in the Southern Hemisphere
22	R Apr 11	The Cane-Zebiak Model
23	T Apr 16	Climate Change & El Nino
		Module 5: Climate Change
24	R Apr 18	Climate Models	PS 4 Due
25	T Apr 23	Anthropogenic Climate Change
26	R Apr 25	Anthropogenic Climate Change (continued); Review Session