Climate Dynamics ACM 40480

Lecturer: Paul Nolan

Aim
This module applies the basic knowledge of atmospheric physics and dynamics gained in the first semester to develop a quantitative understanding of the mean structure and variability of Earth's climate.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to:

Resources
Official module descriptor page
Syllabus
Figures shown in class:
  Part I: The basics [html] [ppt] [pdf]
  Part II: The tropics [html] [ppt] [pdf]
  Part III: The extratropics [html] [ppt] [pdf]
  Part IV: The ocean circulation [html] [ppt] [pdf]
  Part V: Climate variability [html] [ppt] [pdf]
  Part VI: Paleoclimatology [html] [ppt] [pdf]
Exercise sets:
  Lab 1
  Lab 2 (assessable)
  Lab 3
  Lab 4
  Lab 5
  Lab 6 (assessable)
  Lab 7

Hartmann and Michelsen (1993) paper on the sensitivity of the surface energy budget
Trenberth et al. (2001) paper on implied poleward heat transports
Held and Soden (2000) paper on water vapour feedback
Soden and Held (2006) paper on climate feedbacks in GCMs
Emanuel (2003) review paper on tropical cyclones.
Vallis and Gerber (2007) paper on the NAO and annular modes.
Pierrehumbert, Principles of Planetary Climate book in prep.
The IPCC AR4 report.

Animation of high-resolution simulation of atmospheric motion.
Animation of gray-gas radiative-convective equilibration.
RealClimate.org, a site with high-quality but very accesible articles on climate science (check out the index)
ISCCP cloud data viewer
Figure skater illustrating conservation of angular momentum

Additional Resources
  CH 01
  CH 02
  CH 2.1
  CH 03
  CH 04
  CH 05
  CH 06
  Ch07 WRF Intro
  CH 08
  CH 09
  CH 10
  Run the WRF Model
  Lab 1
  Assignment 1
  Data Set 1
  Data Set 2
  Assignment 3

Online radiation codes
Diurnal cycle with fixed temperature
Solve for temperature that gives top-of-atmosphere radiative equilibrium

Python resources
Python tutorial
Python notes to go with A First Course in Climate
Dive into Python, an online Python text book
Documentation for the Numeric module (how to generate and manipulate arrays)
Scripts used in class:
OLR.curve.py OLR as function of surface temperature with gray-gas scheme.
Runaway.py OLR as function of surface temperature with increasing relative humidity: illustrates runaway greenhouse.
Insolation.py Seasonal cycle of insolation
Schwarzschild.weighting.function.py Schwarzschild weighting function and effective emission level
emission.level.py Compute effective emission level given OLR and temperature profile.
mass.streamfunction.py Compute meridional mass streamfunction from zonal-mean v.
deformation.py Compute and plot deformation due to differential advection.
plot.psi.omega.py Plot streamfunction and vertical velocity, solutions to exercise 6.4 in Holton.