Geography 4/521:  Advanced Climatology -- Climate Variations
Fall 2008, 2:00-3:20pm MW, 121 McKenzie (CRN 15564 (421); 15565 (521))
Instructor:  Patrick J. Bartlein, 154 Condon Hall, x6-4967, bartlein@uoregon.edu, Office hours: 2:00-3:50p Th..
 
Overview:  Climate varies.  This fundamental aspect of the behavior of the climate system can have major societal impacts, and also makes it difficult to exactly project the impact that humans are currently having on climate.  The aim of this course is to review the nature of the climate system and why it varies over time, emphasizing those variations that make one year different from another, as well as those that have taken place over decades, centuries and millennia.
 
Web Pages:

Prerequisites:  Geog. 321 (Climatology), or consent of instructor

 

Grading:  Undergraduates:  Two exams (40% each), the first in-class, and the second take-home, and a project that involves the analysis of on-line climate data (20%).  Graduates:  Two exams (35% each), the first in-class, and the second take-home, a project that involves the analysis of on-line climate data (20%), and an annotated bibliography on a topic related to the diagnosis of climatic anomalies in a particular region (10%)
 

Readings: 

  • .pdfs of book chapters and articles supporting each lecture will be available on the Blackboard web page.
  • The State of the Climate in 2007 published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
  • There are also several research-program web pages that feature highlights of recent research on climate variations:
Schedule (Revised 2 Nov)

Date

 Day

Lecture

Topic

9-29

M

1

Introduction—overview of climate variations

  

10-1

W

2

Climate system components

  

10-6

M

3

Atmospheric circulation and surface weather

  

10-8

W

4

Reanalysis data sets

  

10-13

M

5

Introduction to CDC interactive web pages

  

10-15

W

6

Recent interannual climate variations

  

10-20

M

7

ENSO and teleconnections

  

10-22

W

8

Ocean-atmosphere variations and ENSO

  

10-27

M

9

ENSO-generating mechanisms

  

10-29

W

  

Exam 1

  

11-3

M

10

Other modes of interannual climate variability

  

11-5

W

11

Decadal climate variations

  

11-10

M

12

20th century climatic variations

  

11-12

W

13

Climate variations of the last millennium

  

11-17

M

14

Holocene climate variations

  

11-19

W

15

 Holocene climate variations  

11-24

M

16

Abrupt climate changes

  
11-26 W

17

Controls of abrupt changes

  

12-1

M

18

The IPCC assessments

  

12-3

W

 19

The Climate Change Science Program

  
12-8 M   Exam starts 3:15p  

 
 

Expected effort:  Lectures will meet for 1.5 hours each, twice a week.  The project will require on average an additional two hour per week over the course of the term.  In addition to the usual reading and study, it will be beneficial to spend a little time each day to follow the day-to-day variation of the weather and climate, and the progression of the season in a regular fashion.
 
How to deal with the readings:  All of the readings will be available as Adobe Acrobat .pdfs.  There are two reasons for this, both related to the pace and nature of research in climate variability and change:  1) there is no single up-to-date textbook (and if one existed, it would cost a fortune owing to the density of color images in would require), and 2) most of research publications and assessments (e.g. from the IPCC, and in journals) are available first (or only) as .pdfs.  Printing every single page in the .pdfs will not be feasible, and so it will be necessary to develop a personalized routine for reading the material online.
 

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 project and take home exam may be useful, but the write up and exam answers should be written individually. Other academic dishonesty policies will be enforced. (see, for discussion: 
     http://studentlife.uoregon.edu/programs/student_judi_affairs/). 

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