Climate Lectures

Paleoclimate

1. Introduction to Paleo Data (Spring 2013, 21:22; not public)
   • Describes what constitutes a paleoclimate record and shows how delta-O18 variations can serve as evidence of past climates.
2. Proxies and Dating Methods (Spring 2013, 23:50; not public)
   • Describes other climate proxies such as pollen and tree rings, and also discusses examples of techniques used in climate dating.
3. An Incomplete History of the Earth's Climate (Spring 2013, 28:42)
   • Covers roughly the past 65 million years of climate change with emphasis on more recent times.

Energy

1. The Global Energy Budget (Spring 2013, 24:35)
   • Discusses the "Trenberth diagram" of energy flows into and out of the climate system, including shortwave and longwave radiation.

Winds

1. Forces in the Atmosphere and Ocean (Spring 2013, 33:32)
   • Discusses the important horizontal forces in the atmosphere and ocean. Most of the lecture is a scientifically accurate explanation and imagining of the Coriolis force.
2. The Shape of the Ocean (Spring 2013, 15:13)
   • Shows the topography of the ocean surface and relates it to winds, currents, and forces in the ocean.

Physical Climate

1. Annual Average Climate (Spring 2013, 39:29)
   • Discusses several aspects of the distribution of climatic conditions around the globe. Examines wind patterns aloft, and cautions against reading too much into annual averages.
2. Seasonal Variations (Spring 2014, 20:15)
   • Describes the variation from season to season in global atmospheric conditions.
3. Energetics (Spring 2014, 36:14)
   • Describes the global patterns of energy exchange between the surface and the atmosphere.
4. The Strange Case of the Hadley Cell (planned)

Local Climate and Microclimate

1. Koeppen Climate Classification (Spring 2013, 21:04)
   • Describes how to apply the Koeppen climate classification system to climate data for particular locations, using a custom flowchart diagram.
2. Effects of Slope and Altitude (planned)

Hydrometeorology

1. Land Surface Water Balance (Spring 2013, 24:38; not public)
   • Deals with how water moves horizontally and vertically through the soil and subsoil. Based on Bonan's chapter on Water Balance.
2. Watershed Hydrology (Spring 2013, 32:43; not public)
   • Discusses aspects of watershed hydrology and gives an overview of hydrographs, with examples. Based on Bonan's chapter on Watershed Hydrology.
3. Surface Energy Fluxes (Spring 2013, 16:23; not public)
   • Focuses on the exchanges of surface heat and energy over the course of a year and over the course of a single day. Based on Bonan's chapter on Surface Energy Fluxes.
4. Turbulent Fluxes, Part 1 (Spring 2013, 20:44)
   • Discusses the mathematical concept of Reynolds averaging and applies it to boundary layer turbulence. Part 1 reviews the equations for conservation of potential temperature and mass continuity and introduces Reynolds averaging. See equation sheet for reference.
5. Turbulent Fluxes, Part 2 (Spring 2013, 25:18)
   • Discusses the mathematical concept of Reynolds averaging and applies it to boundary layer turbulence. Part 2 derives the equation for turbulent heat flux, discusses the relationship between turbulent heat flux and temperature change, and discusses how the same concepts can be applied to the measurement and understanding of fluxes of other substances. See equation sheet for reference.
6. The Boundary Layer (planned)

El Niño

1. Dynamics of Mean Tropical Pacific Conditions (Spring 2013, 30:16; not public)
   • Discusses the observed wind, current, and ocean temperature patterns in the tropical Pacific Ocean and shows how they are interrelated. Discusses ENSO as an instability in which the winds alter the ocean conditions and the ocean conditions in turn alter the winds.
2. Transitions and Impacts (Spring 2013, 24:08)
   • Explains the reasons that ENSO doesn't get permanently locked into one pattern or the other: the ability of Kelvin waves to change the depth of the thermocline across the eastern Pacific Ocean, and the inability of the western Pacific Ocean to serve as a permanent source or sink of water. Briefly surveys the effects of El Niño on weather patterns around the globe.

Seasonal Climate Prediction

1. The Past and Future of Climate Forecasting (planned)

Global Climate Models

1. Components of a Climate Model (Spring 2013, 23:23)
   • Discusses the components of the atmospheric portion of a global climate model, with emphasis on the difference between the direct calculation of the resolved scales of motion and the smaller-scale phenomena that have to be parameterized. Slides courtesy Cecile Hannay, National Center for Atmospheric Research.
2. Climate Model Parameterizations (Spring 2013, 26:29)
   • Reviews the key parameterizations in the Community Atmospheric Model, including convection, cloud microphysics, radiation, and turbulence. Slides courtesy Cecile Hannay, National Center for Atmospheric Research.
3. Verification and Aerosols (Spring 2013, 26:21)
   • Gives examples of comparisons between model simulations of Earth's climate and observations of Earth's climate. Points out the relative importance of aerosol-cloud interactions as a major poorly-known factor in climate sensitivity. Slides courtesy Cecile Hannay, National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The Tyndall Gas Effect

1. The Earth's Emission Spectrum (Spring 2013, 12:38)
   • Discusses the observed emission spectrum of the Earth and identifies key signatures of radiatively-active greenhouse gases. Slides available.
2. Carbon Dioxide As Seen From Space (Spring 2013, 22:48)
   • Shows images from a standard geostationary weather satellite whose channels detect emissions from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By examining different wavelengths, it is possible to relate the intensity of radiation received by the satellite to horizontal temperature variations in particular atmospheric layers. Slides available.
3. Water Vapor and Climate Change (Spring 2013, 22:03)
   • Discusses how to interpret water vapor images, relating the intensity of radiation to the concentration of water vapor. Discusses the effect on the Earth's emission spectrum of a doubling of CO2 concentration, the resulting no-feedbacks response, and the spectral consequence of water vapor feedback. Slides available.
4. Forcing and Feedback (planned)