Advanced Climate Dynamics

Objectives:
The course aims to provide a theoretical understanding for climate variability and change

Content:
Our climate is determined by radiation from sun and the interaction among various components of the climate system. Climate Dynamics is the study of these processes, and it provides the theoretical basis for understanding variations and changes in climate. This course will cover the interaction among ocean, sea ice, land, and the atmosphere, as well as the hydrological cycle, including clouds, and key feedback mechanisms. The leading theories for climate variability, including those for the El Niño Southern Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and Atlantic Multidecadal Variability will be presented. They will learn about climate extremes, climate prediction, and future climate change, and how climate dynamics is critical to improving understanding and reducing uncertainties in these fields. The student will have hands on experience in performing diagnostic and mechanistic analysis, and in using climate models.

On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student
- has knowledge of how ocean, atmosphere, sea ice, and land interact on time scales from a month to a century
- has understood the leading theories for climate variability
- has a climate dynamics perspective on climate extremes, climate prediction, and climate change
- has basic knowledge of key components of climate models

Skills

The student
- is able to use theory to explain key patterns of climate variability and change
- is able to diagnose the influence of ocean, sea ice, and land surface conditions on the atmosphere
- is able to perform experiments with a simplified climate model

General competence

The student
- can discuss the major uncertainties in climate prediction and change
- can analyse large gridded data
- can perform numerical model experiments