Office of Academic Affairs
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal
EES 628: Introduction to Climate and Climate Change (4)
Learning Objectives:
This course is designed for UG/PG students to provide with an introductory understanding of climate and climate change. The course is divided into two parts (i) climate system and (ii) climate change. The first part deals with the basic understanding of the climate system. The students will learn what is climate and weather, what is climate system, their characteristics and feedbacks. The course will also cover global and regional nature of climate system. The second part covers what is climate change, what factor cause climate change across different scales and how they interact. What is a climate model and how this tool is used for climate change studies. How climate models, observation and theory can be used to make prediction about future climate and possible consequences of climate.
Course Contents:
Introduction to the Climate System
Definitions, weather and climate, Earth's Atmosphere, Earth' energy budget, role of greenhouse gases in atmosphere, greenhouse effect.
Introduction to General Circulation of Atmosphere
Different wind types (mesoscale to macroscale, local winds etc), summer and winter monsoons circulation and its onset and withdrawal process, jet streams, ENSO, El-Nino, La-Nina. Effect of ENSO on Indian monsoon.
Introduction to Climate Change
Observation of temperature trend in last century, natural climate change, anthropogenic climate change, climate feedback mechanism, climate change and global warming, future climate projections, extreme events, uncertainties associated with climate projections.
Introduction to Climate Modelling and Future Scenarios
Elementary knowledge about climate modelling will be covered. Like its governing equations, how climate model works and their limitations.
Suggested Readings :
- Essentials of Meteorology: An Invitation to the Atmosphere 7th Edition, Publisher Cengage Learning
- Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Dynamics, Climate, Physical Meteorology, Weather Systems, and Measurements, DOI: 10.1002/0471721603
 Previous |
Back to Course List | Next  |