Physical Climatology
Undergraduate course
- ECTS credits
- 10
- Teaching semesters
- Autumn
- Course code
- GEOF212
- Number of semesters
- 1
- Teaching language
- English
- Resources
- Schedule
- Reading list
Course description
Objectives and Content
Objectives
The course aims to provide an understanding of the Earths climate, and the factors that cause it to change.
Content
The course covers present day climate, as well as climate variations in the past, present, and future. It focuses on the physical principles governing the global energy budget, the role of the circulation of the atmosphere and oceans, and interactions between the different components of the climate system. The course investigates the physical mechanisms governing changes in climate related to land surface properties (ice, snow, vegetation, etc.), atmospheric composition (gas and particles), clouds and orbital parameters. It also introduces climate variability that results from interactions within the climate system (e.g., El Niño). In addition, the concepts of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change are discussed.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:
Knowledge
The student
- will know the central concepts in climate physics
- will know the main features of the atmospheric and ocean general circulation, and understand the energy transports associated with each
- will know the fundamental physical mechanisms for large scale climate variability and change
- will know the main feedback mechanisms in the climate system
Skills
The student
- is able to compute and interpret global energy budgets
- is able to perform calculations of the climate sensitivity to external factors, such as from the sun, volcanoes and changes in greenhouse gasses
- is able to explain the nature of internal climate variability and anthropogenic climate change
- is able to explain key elements of global climate models and sources of uncertainty
- is able to analyze gridded global-scale climate data
General competence
The student
- can explain the factors determining climate and its changes
- can use scientific programming software to perform computations on global data sets
- can prepare and give scientific presentations and discuss scientific results, following good scientific practice
- can discuss anthropogenic climate change, including the uncertainties in model based predictions of future climate
ECTS Credits
Level of Study
Semester of Instruction
Autumn.
Enrolment to this course is based on application. Application deadline is wednesday in week 33 for the autumn semester. Please see this page for more information: www.uib.no/en/matnat/53431/admission-courses-limited-capacity
Required Previous Knowledge
Recommended Previous Knowledge
Credit Reduction due to Course Overlap
Access to the Course
Teaching and learning methods
2 lecture of 2 hours per week including exercises with Teaching Assistant
Problems will be solved with active involvement of students; Term project will be presented to the class, and
this will be followed by discussion. Students will be asked to evaluate each others projects. Lecturer and assistant will perform the final evaluation and grading.
Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
Forms of Assessment
Portfolio assessment
The portfolio consist of
- presentation of a term assignment counts 30 % of the final grade
- 4-hour written exam counts 70 % ofthe final grade
The term assignment is valid the semester it is approved and in the following semester.