Climate Dynamics

Please follow this link for the course information retrieved from the ETH semester programme.

This course is designed to provide a more advanced look at interactions between components of the physical and biological earth system. Rather than describe in detail the components of the earth system (Atmosphere, Ocean, Land, Ice and Biosphere) this course will focus on interactions and feedbacks between components. The focus will be based on current uncertainties and major potential feedbacks in the present earth system. There will also be some discussion of past and future feedbacks. The course will also focus on techniques and methods for understanding feedbacks. The course will consist of lectures and paper discussions. Students will be asked to assist with paper discussions. Some computer laboratory work and a project based on current research is expected. Students are expected to be broadly familiar with the components of the earth system (through a previous course in climate or the earth system).

The format of the course will be a ~1 hour lecture each week, followed by a paper discussion on a selected paper. The paper discussion will be led by students. A final research project analyzing a particular climate feedback will be assigned.

This course consists of 2 contact hours per week (1 hour lecture and sometimes 1 hour paper discussion) and it is taught by Andrew Gettelman. The preliminary outline of the lectures is given below, and may be adjusted due to student needs (especially for the later part of the course). Lecture notes will be posted here (hopefully before the lectures).

• First Week: no classes 19.09.11
• 26.09.11 No class: Professor Travel
• 03.10.11 Lecture 1, Review: Components of the earth system: Atmosphere, Land, Ocean, Ice, Biosphere, Chemistry, Radiation
• 10.10.11 Lecture 2, Fast Feedbacks in the Atmosphere: Methods and Feedbacks
• 17.10.11 Lecture 3, Cloud Feedbacks
• 24.10.11 Lecture 4, Surface (Ice & Albedo) Feedbacks, Simple Feedback Models
• 31.10.11 No class: Professor Travel
• 07.11.11 Lecture 5, Land Surface Feedbacks
• 14.11.11 Lecture 6, Oceanic Feedbacks: Thermohaline Circulation, Ocean Biology
• 21.11.11 Lecture 7, Carbon Cycle Feedbacks: Carbon in the Earth System, Land and Ocean Carbon
• 28.11.11 Lecture 8, Methane and Chemical Feedbacks: Permafrost methane, Methane Clathrates, Ozone
• 05.12.11 Lecture 9, Chemical and Biogeochemical Cycles: Sulfur and DMS, Nitrogen and Phosphorous, Ozone and OH
• 12.12.11 Lecture 10, Geological Timescale Feedbacks: Atmospheric Oxygen and Geologic Carbon Cycle
• 19.12.11 Lecture 11, Anthropogenic 'feedbacks': Society and Climate

Papers for Discussion:

• 10.10.11: Water Vapor Feedbacks: I. M. Held and B. J. Soden. Water vapor feedback and global warming. Annu. Rev. Energy Environ., 25:441-75, 2000.
• 17.10.11: Cloud Feedbacks: A. E. Dessler. A determination of the cloud feedback from climate variations over the past decade. Science, 330:1523-1527, 2010.
• 24.10.11: Simple Models: A. J. Watson and J. E. Lovelock. Biological homeostasis of the global environment: the parable of daisyworld. Tellus, 35B:284-289, 1983.
• 31.10.11: No Class
• 07.11.11: Land Surface Feedbacks R. D. Koster et al (GLACE Team), Regions of strong coupling between soil moisture and precipitation, Science, 305:1138-1140, 2004
• 14.11.11: Ocean Circulation and Climate S. Rahmstorf. Ocean circulation and climate during the past 120,000 years, Nature, 419:207-214, 2002
• 21.11.11: Carbon Cycle: Modifying Climate Change P. Friedlingstein et al., Climate–Carbon Cycle Feedback Analysis: Results from the C4MIP Model Intercomparison, Journal of Climate 19:3337-3353, 2006
• 28.11.11: Methane Cycle D. A. Archer and B. Buffett and V. Brovkin, Ocean methane hydrates as a slow tipping point in the global carbon cycle, Proc. Nat. Academy of Sciences, 106:20596-20601, 2009
• Optional: news piece by Kerr for perspective: R. A. Kerr 'Arctic Armageddon' Needs More Science, Less Hype, Science, 329:620-621, 2010
• 05.12.11: Biogeochemistry: CLAW Hypothesis R. J. Charlson, J. E. Lovelock, M. O. Andreae, and S. G. Warren. Oceanic phytoplankton, atmospheric sulphur, cloud albedo and climate. Nature, 326:655-661, 1987.
• 12.12.11: Geologic Time Scales D. M. Sigman and E. A. Boyle, Glacial/interglacial variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide, Nature, 407:859-860, 2000
• Optional News Piece: L. R. Kump Reducing uncertainty about carbon dioxide as a climate driver Nature, 419,188-190, 2002
• 19.12.11: Anthropocene W. Steffen, P. J. Crutzen and J. R. McNeill, The Anthropocene: Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature, AMBIO, 38:614-621, 2007

Marks are expected to be based on (a) Participation in Class Paper discussions (b) Student projects related to their own research and (c) some problem exercises using basic techniques

Assignment: Due November 7th: Text of Daisyworld Assignment as either Word or PDF. Also needed is the Daisyworld Spreadsheet. Assignment Solutions are now available.

Basic info (aims, etc) can be found in the Semesterprogramm.