PCC 587 (Climate Dynamics) is now Fundamentals of Global Warming Science

ATM S 587/OCEAN 587/ESS 587 Climate Dynamics is changing!

This course is now the Fundamentals of Global Warming Science. The goal of this new course is to give an overview of what changes have been observed in the climate system, how we can attribute these changes to human activities, and what we can say about what will happen in the future. We will cover topics such as how the addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere warm the planet, observations of the climate system in the distant and recent past, what forces the climate system and how climate responds to these forces, responses of the hydrologic cycle in a changing climate, ocean circulation and atmospheric circulation changes, and climate models. The prerequisite for the course is one quarter of Calculus, and is appropriate for any student who wants to learn climate science fundamentals in an accelerated manner.

The course will be offered in Fall 2012 on TTh from 1-2:20 PM. Textbook will be David Archer's Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast. Questions about the course can be directed to Prof. Dargan Frierson, dargan@atmos.washington.edu. This course is targeted towards graduate students in natural resource and biological sciences, as well as those social and health sciences, including students in the Evans School.

An advanced version of the former Climate Dynamics course (targeted for students who have taken mathematics courses through differential equations) will be offered in Fall 2013. Full Story