Anders Levermann's Teaching

Dynamics of the climate system (Lecture with exercises)

Special announcements for current lecture

Content

Introduction	1. Changing climate dynamics 2. Energy budget of the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect
Dynamical systems	3. Feedbacks 4. Equilibria, stability and bifurcations
Ocean and Atmosphere	5. Field equations of fluid dynamics 6. Large-scale ocean dynamics: general equations & approximations 7. Large-scale ocean dynamics: real currents - THC, AABW, ACC & horizontal gyres 8. Large-scale atmospheric dynamics: mid-latitudes & quasi-geostrophic approximation 9. Large-scale atmospheric dynamics: baroclinic instability & zonally averaged circulation 10. Tropical phenomena: El-Nino Southern Oscillation and monsoon circulation
Cryosphere	11. Sea ice equations and phenomenolgy 12. Ice sheet dynamics: Greenland - the shallow ice approximation (SIA) 13. Ice shelf dynamics: Antarctica - the shallow shelf approximation (SSA)
Discussion	14. Climate change - the big picture

Lab tasks:

Core literature:
"Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast", David Archer
"Dynamic Meterology", J.R. Holton
"Introduction to physical oceanography", George Mellor
Lecture on land ice dynamics, Ralf Greve

Additional literature:
"Der Klimawandel", Stefan Rahmstorf und John Schellnhuber.
"Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics", Adrian E. Gill
"Geophysical Fluid Dynamics", Joseph Pedlowsky
"Physics of Climate", Jose P. Peixoto und Abraham H. Oort
Habilitationthesis on land ice dynamics, Ralf Greve
"Fundamentals of glacier dynamics", C.J. van der Veen
"The physics of glaciers", W.S.B. Paterson
"Climate System Modeling", Kevin E. Trenberth (ed.)
"Global Physical Climatology", Dennis L. Hartmann
"Physik unserer Umwelt: Die Atmosphäre", Walter Roedel

Links:
"KlimaLounge", German weblog
"RealClimate", English weblog
"Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)"
"Minimal Glacier Models", J. Oerlemans
"Millenium Ecosystem Report"

RealClimate.org

Impressum

last update: August 2010