GTF:  Stephani Michelsen-Correa, 105 Condon Hall; x6-4564, smichels@uoregon.eduOffice hours:  4:00-5:00p Mon, 9:00-10:00a Thurs.

Overview:  The climate system is a set of environmental systems including the atmosphere, ocean, and biosphere, that are coupled to one another and vary over time and space, and climatology is the study of that system.  This course covers the basics of energy and moisture in the climate system, atmospheric circulation processes and patterns, and the spatial and temporal variations of climate, including those produced by human action.  The course will also trace the development of our understanding of the physical basis of climatology, the development of conceptual and numerical models of climate, and how complex systems like the Earth’s climate system are studied.

Text:  Smith, J. (2006) The Facts on File Dictionary of Weather and Climate, New York, Infobase Publishing, 262 p. plus .pdf readings on Blackboard.  You may bring the book to the exams and quizzes.  Among the .pdfs on Blackboard will be several selections from the State of the Climate in 2006 from the Bulletin of the American Meterological Society.

Reserve texts:  Global Physical Climatology, D.L. Hartmann, (1994) Academic Press, 411 p. [SCIENCE QC981 .H32 1994], Fundametnals of Atmospheric Physics, Salby, M.L. (1996), Academic Press, 627 p. [SCIENCE QC861.2 .S25 1996], Physics of Atmospheres, J.T. Houghton, (2002) Cambridge Univ. Press, 320 p.[SCIENCE QC880 .H68 2002]

• Course web page:  http://blackboard.uoregon.edu/ 

• Weather and climate page:  http://geography.uoregon.edu/weather/

• Supplemental materials page, syllabus, exercises:  http://geography.uoregon.edu/bartlein/courses/geog321/

Grading:  100 pts. total.  Two examinations (25 and 20 pts. each), and four quizzes (23 pts. total), plus completion of eight exercises that involve the analysis of information from the Internet that illustrates the day-to-day and seasonal variations of weather and climate (4 pts each, 32 pts total for the exercises). 

No make-up exams or quizzes.  Do not miss class on the days exams or quizzes are given.  Quizzes may be given at any time during the lecture period they are scheduled in.  With adequate documentation of the medical or other issue that created an unavoidable absence, scores from another exam or quiz may be substituted for a single missed exam or quiz.  The exam and quiz questions will consist of a mix of multiple-choice and short-answer questions, and will emphasize concepts (as opposed to factoids), and will also include questions aimed at your ability to synthesize material presented in the lectures, readings, and related web pages, as well as to interpret images showing current weather conditions.

Exercises must be handed in by 5pm on their due date.  Exercises that are 24 hrs late will have 1 point deducted, and after 48 hrs, 2 points.  Exercises must still be completed to pass the course.  There will be several questions on each exam based on this material. No makeup exams or quizzes. 

Based on student performance in previous offerings of this course, 82 pts or above will be required for an A, 72-81 pts. for a B, and at least 55 pts. for a C.

Other topics:  The visual inspection and interpretation of the maps and images will be important, but accommodation for alternative methods of course-material access may be possible--please see me as soon as possible.  Collaboration on the exercises may be useful, but answers should be written individually. Other academic dishonesty policies will be enforced.  (see, for discussion):  http://studentlife.uoregon.edu/judicial/conduct/sai.htm).  Also, the support provided by the following may be useful:
     UO Campus Life Resources http://www.uoregon.edu/~stacaf/UGCampus.htm and
     Academic Learning Services http://www.uoregon.edu/~als/index.html

Expanded course description:  The climate system is a set of environmental systems including the atmosphere, ocean, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere.  These systems are coupled to one another and vary over time and space, and climatology is the study of that coupled system.  The temporal and spatial variations of the climate system are generated by variations in the input of solar radiation, by the geological controls of atmospheric composition and the arrangement of continents and oceans, and by human impacts on atmospheric composition and the nature of the land surface.  Understanding how the climate system works therefore requires input from all of the environmental sciences, and because human activities clearly influence climate, is also connected to the social sciences.

The first part of the course examines the basic controls of and variations in energy and moisture in the climate system, and describes the their temporal and spatial variations.  The middle part of the course examines atmospheric circulation, its maintenance, and role in redistributing energy and moisture around the globe, as well as the connection between larger-scale atmospheric circulation features and the seasonal and day-to-day variations of weather at a place.  The third part of the course examines the spatial and temporal variations of climate, including the global and regional variations of weather and climate, climate history on multiple time scales, and future climates. 

We will also trace the development of our understanding of how the climate system works as illustrated by the progressive elaboration of simple models of atmospheric circulation into the conceptual model that underlies both the explanation of the connection between large-scale circulation features and surface conditions, and the numerical models that are used for day-to-day weather forecasting and for projecting future climate changes.