ESCI 3101: Global Environmental Change
Why is our planet warming up? Why are we so confident that it’s due to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion, rather than natural processes? How much more will it warm in the future? How will this affect things like weather extremes, the water cycle, and sea level? And, why does it matter for our lives & livelihoods that Earth is warming? This lecture course offers a broad introduction to the science of the global warming issue. It is aimed at sophomores and juniors throughout the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, but students from outside the department are also welcome. 3 credit hours, every Fall and Spring. Prerequisite: ESCI 1101 or METR 1102.
ESCI 4201/5201: Hydroclimatology
Why does it rain where and when it rains? How do precipitation, radiation, and other climate elements control the global distributions of rainforests, grasslands and deserts; of plentiful and scarce water resources? How has climate change altered these patterns in the past, and how will it alter them in the near future as we warm up the planet? The answers to these questions may be more subtle, interesting, and controversial than you think. This is a moderately quantitative, interactive lecture class aimed at junior and senior Earth/Environmental Sciences and Meteorology majors, and at all departmental MS students. 3 credit hours, every Fall. Prerequisite: ESCI 3101.
METR 4205/ESCI 5205: Climate Dynamics
Besides the long-term global warming that is the subject of ESCI 3101, regional climate also changes dramatically on much shorter time scales due to phenomena like El Nino, La Nina, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, the Northern and Southern Annular Modes, as well as natural background variability of the atmosphere. How do we quantify and analyze these variations? And how can we understand their relationship to everyday weather felt at the surface?
In this lab-oriented, quantitative course, we learn to analyze large operational climate datasets in Matlab to answer questions like the above, gaining valuable data and computing skills. We also learn quite a bit of climate science along the way. The course is aimed at junior and senior Meteorology majors, and at atmospherically-oriented MS students. 3 credit hours, every Spring. Prerequisites: ESCI 3101 and METR 4105.
METR 4240/ESCI 5240: Boundary Layer Meteorology (not currently taught)
As meteorologists we often hear about the turbulent, frictional “boundary layer” that makes up the lowest kilometer (or so) of the troposphere, but why is it there in the first place? And how does it affect the rest of the atmosphere? How can we can understand measurements of turbulent fluxes and atmospheric properties made in the surface layer, close to the ground? This quantitative class, aimed at junior and senior Meteorology majors and atmospherically oriented MS students, explores the mechanics of the boundary layer from a big-picture meteorological perspective. 3 credit hours, next offering TBA. Prerequisite: METR 3210.