Climate Change / Global Warming

THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE / GLOBAL WARMING

Instructor: Dr. Rahul Chopra

The course is designed to provide students an understanding of the issue of climate change. There are two main components to this course:

1. The science behind the forecast and

2. A critical review of important climate change policies

The scientific component of the course focuses on the role of the atmosphere, the oceans, the biosphere, and the lithosphere and their interactions in determining the temperature of the Earth. The role of major greenhouse gases such as CO₂, CH₄, O₃, H₂O are explored in the context of their natural abundances and the human influence on their abundances. The geological records of past climate including glacial and inter-glacial periods will be used to evaluate the present-day climate.  Catastrophic climate scenarios such as “Snowball Earth” –when the entire Earth was covered with snow and runaway greenhouse effects, as seen on Earth’s sister planet Venus where surface temperatures are approximately 460 °C, will also be explored. The course contains assignments based on online interactive computer models which allow students to understand the physics and chemistry of forecasts of climate change.

This course includes lecture presentations, a laboratory component, and potential visits to government research laboratories in Pune city such as the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. In the laboratory component we will use several online models which are designed to help you understand the scientific principles of forecasts of climate change.

WEEK	TOPIC
1	Introduction and Review of Climate in Earth's History
2	Basic Scientific Principles. The Earth's Atmosphere, Biosphere, Lithosphere and their interactions
3	The Layer Models and how to determine surface temperatures of the planet
4	Greenhouse Gases and their role in climate change
5	Long term Cycles and Feedback Mechanisms
6	Catastrophic Climate Scenarios. Snowball Earth, Runaway Greenhouse Effect
7	The Climate Conventions- Chronology of Events
8	Review of the IPCC Report- Working Group 1, 2, 3
9	Review of the Kyoto Protocol Stabilizing Mechanisms
10	Review of course and Final Exam

Text Book: Global Warming: Understanding The Forecast by David Archer. Lecture presentations will be provided to you electronically

GRADING:

Assignments 40% of final grade

Midterm Exam 25% of final grade

Final Exam 35% of final grade