Spring 2009
Seminar in Climate Change
Course description |
Objectives: The goal of this course is twofold: to introduce students with a basic knowledge of climatology to advanced topics in climate change and to instill enthusiasm in this subject area to encourage future specialists. The course emphasizes a hands-on learning environment, with in depth insights into theoretical and conceptual underpinnings in climate change. Primary focus will be placed on understanding the science behind the current projections of future climate change but also, each student will identify 2 areas of specific interest (applications, techniques or sub-areas within the climate system as a whole) in which they will focus and select readings, lead discussions and online materials for given weeks. Ultimately, the course will empower students to delve more deeply into advanced issues in climate change and to customize and develop understanding, applications or tools for their particular area of interest.
SCHEDULE (see also Syllabus as top of page to link to full syllabi)
The 'Selected Topics' section will be completed as these are determined in class, and 'White papers' on each topic will be posted here.
The IPCC Report used in this course can be found at:
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.htm
Or simply link directly by selecting the readings, each pdf file will then open. Note: These files are large and will take some time to download and open up.
Date |
IPCC-Background Topic |
Reading from IPCC Report |
Selected Topics…TBD |
Thurs Jan 8th |
Class Introductions |
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Thurs Jan 15th |
Introduction to Climate Change and the IPCC |
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Thurs Jan 22nd |
Historical Overview of Climate Change Science |
Topic 1: ENSO & Climate Change (Anna) Tsonis and al. Unfolding the relation betwen global temp and enso.pdf Nyenzi and Lefale. El Nino Southern Oscillation ENSO and global warming.pdf Copy of Discussion Topic 2: Precipitation variability in Africa (Andrea) Giannini et al 2008 CC glob persp on african climate.pdf Copy of Discussion
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Thurs Jan 29th |
Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcings |
Topic 3: CC & International development (Nikki) Topic 4: Semi-arid areas and CC (Chien) HOFFMANN AND JACKSON
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Thurs Feb 5th |
Observations: Surface and Atmospheric Climate Change |
Topic 5: Tropical cyclones & Variability (Erin) reading 1: resources 1776-2005 reading 2: henderson 1998 also I was also hoping to
talk about the "category 6" hurricane article. There really is no
scientific article about this yet but there are several news
articles. The best seems to be the abc article, at the link
below. Please review for class Topic 6: Tropical Forests & CC (Miguel) reading 1: clark et al 2003 reading 2: clark 2004 (more general) Topic 7: Tropical forests, deforestation and rleated climate chnages (Theron) reading 1:Global Hydroclimatological Teleconnections Resulting from Tropical Deforestation reading 2: Climate impacts of tropical lowland deforestation
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Thurs Feb 12th |
Paleoclimate |
Topic 8: Hydrology and Climate Change in South America (Carlos) paper 1 is Foley et al 2002 and paper 2 Poveda and Mesa 1997 White Paper Topic 9: Tropical Cyclone tracks in NA & CC (Mario) Powerpoint presentation Topic 10: Applying insights from edaphic Guianan Shield paleoclimate shifts and poor regional soil conditions to present day anthropogenic deforestation policy (Jon) Readings: one of them is 3 pages of informative yet seriously light reading (hammond 2005). one focuses on paleofires (hammond 2006) and the other on paleodunes while summarizing views of paleoclimate from other approaches such as palynology (teeuw 2004). Powerpoint presentation White Paper |
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Thurs Feb 19th |
Couplings between changes in the Climate System and Biogeochemistry |
Topic 11: Wetland Carbon Stores and Temperature Sensitivity (Lisa) Reading 1. Mitra et al 2005 Reading 2. Davidson and Janssen 2006 Powerpoint presentation White Paper Topic 12: Florida LCC & CC (Gloria) Reading 1. Dale 1997 Reading 2. Pielke Science Magazine Powerpoint presentation White Paper Topic 13: Ocean circulation chnages - geologic (Susanna) Reading 1. Broeker 1997 Reading 2. Latif 2006 White Paper |
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Thurs Feb 26th |
Climate Models and their evaluation |
Topic 14: CO2 sequestration in temperate forests (Cynnamon) Reading 1.CC and Treeline Change Reading 2. Climate Chnage and Fray jorge Topic 15: Climate and Land Use Dynamics (Jing) Reading 1.Resilience, adaptability and transformability in SESs Reading 2. Impact of LCLUC on regional climate in China Powerpoint presentation Topic 16: Pollution & Economic Development (Megan) reading 1: Confronting reading 2: Kuznets world development
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Thurs March 5th |
Climate Models and their evaluation ….Continued |
Topic 17: CC & Human Health (Nikki) Reading 1.Impact Regional Climate Reading 2. Dengue in AMericas Reading 3. Correlation of climatic factors Topic 18: Population Dynamics & CC (Megan) Reading 1. IOM Report - read pages 29-39 ONLY Reading 2. Vigdor Topic 19: CO2 Fertilization (Lisa) Reading 1.Korner, 2000 Reading 2. Oren et al 2001 |
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Thurs March 12th |
SPRING BREAK |
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Thurs March 19th |
Understanding and Attributing Climate Change |
Topic 20: Climate - Land Interaction - Andrea Reading 1. Archibald Scholes 2007 Reading 2. Nemani et al 2003 Topic 22: Range Shifts and Global Climate Change- Miguel Reading 1.Colwell et al 2008 Reading 2. Nature 2002
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Thurs March 26th |
AAG Week |
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Topic 21: Jon reference/not a reading: IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 996 pp. reading: 2.) Mayewski, P. A., et al. (2009), State of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate system, Rev. Geophys., 47, RG1003, doi:10.1029/2007RG000231. and Dorran 2002 Topic 23: Land Use Land Cover Change - Gloria Reading 1.Feddema et al 2005 Reading 2. Pielke-Walko 1999
Topic 25: Urban Areas and Climate Change - Cynnamon Reading 1. CC & Urban heat islands Reading 2. Global chnage and cities [just Powerpoint presentation
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Thurs April 2nd |
Global Climate Projections |
Topic 24: Hurricanes and Climate Change- Mario (carried over from last week as Mario was sick) Reading 1.Knutson et al 1998. Science Reading 2. Walsh and Ryan 1999 Powerpoint presentation Topic 26: Carbon Cycle and Carbon Trade Mechanism (Chien) Reading 1. REDD. Making REDD work for the poor (Executive summary only) Reading 2. Emissions Trading White Paper Topic 27: Water Quality and Climate Change - Susanna Reading 1. Byrne 2006 Reading 2. Zimmerman 2008 Reading 3. (just skim/reference). Cruise 1999 Topic 28: REDD - Theron I have attached three articles , but people really only need to read Ebeling and Yasue. People should skim the other two articles. They discuss baseline forests stocks for each country, baseline deforestation rates, and monitoring techniques. Reading 1.Ebeling-Yasue-2008 Reading 2. Olander et al 2008 (htm) Reading 3. Gibbes et al 2007 (htm)
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Thurs April 9th |
Regional Climate Projections |
Topic 29: Carbon Emissions and Trade - Anna Reading 1.Wei - Asia summer monsoon intensification Reading 2. Gadgil and Kumar - Agriculture and the Economy Powerpoint presentation Topic 30: El Nino and Resilience - Jing Reading 1.El Nino as an opportunity Reading 2. Tree establishement and ENSO gradients Powerpoint presentation Topic 31: Regional Climate Chnage Models -Erin Reading 1. GCM-RegCM Reading 2. Spatial Scale Powerpoint presentation Topic 32: Regional Models in South America - Carlos Reading 1. Silvestri et al 2009 Reading 2. Seth et al 2004 Copy of Weekly Discussions |
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Thurs April 16th |
Discussion |
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Summary, Discussion and Final Readings - Jane See discussion points posted to E-Learning. Also some pieces here to at least get us thinking about the major advancements within climate chnage research and also the continuing challnges. Some are websites and these are given with a link below, others are brief papers. Enjoy! 1.Australian Climate Change Research 2. DOE presentation on Grand Challenges from Climate Change 3.The computational future for climate change research 4.Center for Global Development website, interesting and a different focus, play around here http://www.cgdev.org/section/topics/environment?gclid=CPjE4eaE7pkCFQJHxwodJ2qRTQ 5. An interesting new book, brief blurb found here..... http://dels.nas.edu/climatechange/future.shtml OK, should be enough to get disucssion going, feel free to search for more too. Please share at E-Learning any good websites found.
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