The Science of Climate Change

In its 2013 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and that "human influence on the climate system is clear.” Why do human activities affect climate? What future climatic changes can we expect, and what will be their impacts? Answers to these questions lie in processes that govern the flows of energy to and from Earth and its atmosphere, in changing atmospheric composition, and in cycling of materials among Earth, atmosphere, and oceans. In this course we will explore these processes and their implications for human-induced climate change, giving students solid grounding in climate science. We will also explore the latest IPCC report and other current literature, work with climate data, and develop simple climate models for exploring future scenarios. The climate-modeling workshop of ENVS 0240 qualifies it for the lab science requirement of the ENVS major. (MATH 0121 or waiver for high-school calculus) 3 hrs. lect. and workshop