Instructors

Emilia Jin (office: room 315, Research 1, e-mail: kchin@gmu.edu )

James L. Kinter (office: room 310, Research 1, e-mail: kinter@cola.iges.org)

Guest instructor

Jagadish Shukla (office: room 310, Research 1, e-mail: shukla@cola.iges.org)

Class Schedule

Thursday 1:30pm-4:00pm, 21 Jan-6 May, 2010

Texts

- Main text: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th assessment report: Climate Change 2007. Working Group I Report "The Physical Science Basis" (available in http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.htm It is also available in the Fenwick Stacks library as a book.)

- Text book: Martens, P. and J. Rotmans (ed.), 1999: Climate Changes: An Integrated Perspective. Advances in Global Change Research, Vol. 1. Kluwar Academic Publishers. (Chapter 2 and Chapter 5)

- Reference book: Trenberth, K. E. (ed.), 1992: Climate System Modeling. Cambridge University Press.

Course work requirements

Lectures

Reading

Paper and Presentation (Students will be expected to prepare papers on topics selected in consultation with the course director and make oral presentations about their topic)

Course Description

The problem of global warming, especially with regard to anthropogenic causes, will be discussed based on IPCC 4^th assessment report “The Physical Science Basis” published in 2007. Topics covered will include: 1) Overview of the observed climate system, including physical processes and feedbacks; 2) Variability of the climate system as observed in the recent past and inferred for other epochs; 3) Modeling of the climate system response to green house gas forcings, including the carbon cycle; 4) Green house gases, chemistry, and aerosols, 5) Projections of climate change, detection, and impacts on society.

Evaluation Criteria

The assessment of student performance will be based on participation (10%), mid-term examination (30%), and the project paper (30%) and presentation (30%)

Class Schedule