Lecture (LEC)

• Above class meets with GEOG-G 407, EAS-A 445, and EAS-G 545

Climate Dynamics is the study of how the Earth system behaves in response to changes. These can include changes in how the Earth orbits the sun, the impacts of large volcanic eruptions, or how El Niño causes changes in weather patterns. They also include human-caused changes, such as increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, pollution, or large-scale agriculture. In this class we will discuss how all of these different things affect the Earth system, especially considering feedbacks - changes cause other changes, which in turn can amplify or suppress the original impacts. We will discuss what we know, how we know it, and how to quantify it so we can better predict what's going to happen in our future. This class is open to all graduate students and upper level undergraduates without prerequisites. A quantitative background will be helpful (for example, you should have taken a natural science class before and know how to perform a regression).