CLIM 762: Statistical Methods in Climate Research

(Formerly CLIM 759: Special Topics)

 

Instructor: Timothy DelSole

Semester: Fall 2008

Email: tdelsole@gmu.edu

OfÞce Phone: 301-902-1258

Catalogue Description: Introduction to a core set of statistical methods that have proven useful to modern climate and predictability research. Topics include detecting and attributing climate change, describing climate variability with empirical orthogonal functions, statistical forecasting with regression and time series models, and identifying coupled patterns of variability with canonical correlation analysis.

Prerequisites: undergraduate level linear algebra and probability, or permission of instructor.

Class Meeting: Mondays, 10:30am-1:15pm, IN139

Grading: Homework: 60%, Exam: 25%, Project: 15%

Course Text: There is no ofÞcial text book for this course. Lecture notes will be handed out or made available electronically. The following texts may prove useful:

Statistical Analysis in Climate Research, by von Storch and Zwiers, Cambridge Univ Press.

Probability and Statistics, by Spiegel, Schaums Outlines.

Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis, by Johnson and Wichern.

 

Course Outline

 

Expectations for R Programming

 

Chapter 1  Homework 1 (Due 9 September 2008)

 

Chapter 2  Homework 2 (Due 16 September 2008)

 

Chapter 4  Homework 3 (Due 23 September 2008)

 

Chapter 3  Homework 4 (Due 30 September 2008)

 

Chapter 5  Homework 5 (Due 7 October 2008)

 

Chapter 6  Homework 6 (Due 14 October 2008)