Causes and consequences of Climate Change

Objectives

The course aims at giving an introduction to the science of climate change. It provides the basis for understanding the underlying physical processes and feedbacks governing climate variations on different timescales. How different anthropogenic emissions influences climate and what are the main factors driving the changes in emissions. In addition, physical and economical climate change impacts and risks will be presented along with an outline of international frameworks for climate assessment, adaptations and mitigation. The course will give the student the perspective to discuss the UN's Societal Development Goals in the context of the ongoing changes in climate.

Content

The course will explain the main external forcing mechanisms such as the sun, volcanoes, and changes in greenhouse gases and aerosols, which can contribute to changing the global energy budget and initiate climate changes. Through this course, students will gain an in-depth understanding of the complexities of the climate system, and be able to compare the observed, man-made changes in climate over the last century to past natural changes.

The students will learn about different types of climate related emissions and their main drivers.

The course includes an introduction to different types of climate impacts, including examples of physical and economical risks. The concept of risk and risk analysis through hazards, exposure and vulnerability will be reviewed. The course answers to the UNs Societal Development Goals (in particular SDG13) by strengthening our knowledge of climate and climate-related hazards.

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

• can explain the fundamental physical mechanisms behind large scale climate variability
• can understand the basic external forcing mechanisms that initiate climate variations
• can explain and quantify the main feedback mechanisms in the climate system
• can provide an overview of different anthropogenic emissions sources
• can explain the main underlying drivers of changes in anthropogenic emissions
• can understand the concept of risk through event, exposure and vulnerability
• can understand possible physical and economical consequences of climate change for society
• can explain the main international frameworks for climate change assessment, adaption and mitigation
• can put UN's Societal Development Goal 13 in perspective with other SDG goals

Skills

The student

• can use basic climate change terminology and expressions
• can perform calculations of the earth´s sensitivity to external forcings such as the Sun, volcanoes and changes in greenhouse gases
• can assess the physical and economical consequences of climate change and evaluate their impact on society through a risk framework
• can demonstrate their verbal and written scientific communication skills and ability to present scientific information to fellow students and others
• can reflect on the linkages and interactions between the UN's Societal Development Goals

General competence

The student can

• demonstrate the ability for critical thinking and physically based reasoning
• show cross-disciplinary awareness through discussions on the interaction between humans and nature in the Earth system
• summarize the link between environmental, socio-economic, demographic and social relationships through investigation into the effect of future man-made greenhouse gas emissions

Autumn

This course has a limited capacity, enrolment is based on application. Application deadline is Wednesday in week 33 for the spring semester. Please see this page for more information.

It is compulsory to attend the first lecture. Please contact the Study Section if you can't come to the first lecture: studieveileder@gfi.uib.no