Atmospheric Sciences 211:
Climate and Climate Change
Spring 2004

webpage: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~larissa/211/syllabus.html

Instructor:
Steve Warren
Room 542 ATG
Telephone: 543-7230
email: sgw@atmos.washington.edu

Teaching Assistant:
Larissa Back
Room 722 ATG
Telephone: 685-9523
email: larissa@atmos.washington.edu

Office Hours:
Monday 2:30-3:30 (Warren)
Tuesday 1:30-2:30 (Back)
Wednesday 2:30-3:30 (Back)
Thursday 1:30-2:30 (Warren)

Objectives
Course
Structure
Textbook &
Articles 		Outline
Syllabus
(printable pdf)
Assignments Handouts/notes

Objectives:

The primary objective is to develop student understanding of how the climate system works, how climate has changed in the past, and how it is now being changed by human activity. The course also emphasizes skills needed to analyze and critically evaluate public discussions of climate issues.
This is a course for students of all backgrounds. A working knowledge of high school algebra and high school physical sciences is assumed. This is both a Natural World (NW) course and a Writing (W) course. If you want the W credit, you will write a term paper based on a book from a list to be supplied.



Course Structure:

Lectures will be held in Condon Hall 109, Monday-Thursday at 10:30 am. The Friday class, led by Larissa Back in Anderson 10, will be used for quizzes, questions about the lectures, and discussions about homework problems and exam questions. There will also be some guest lectures. We will also watch some slideshows illustrating climatic principles.
There will be homework assignments and two exams. In addition, a term paper will be required for students desiring Writing credit.
Exams will require short answers and short essays. If you have a good reason why you cannot take an examination on the date specified, please inform the instructor well in advance of the date. There will be no makeup exams except in case of serious illness or death in the family. You must be excused in advance, by phone or email if necessary.



Assessment:

Percent of grade (if enrolled for writing credit) Percent of grade (if not enrolled for writing credit)
Homeworks and quizzes2535
Midterm Exam2530
Final Exam3035
Term Paper20


Textbook:

Lee Kump, James Kasting, Robert Crane: The Earth System. Second Edition. Prentice-Hall, 2004. The textbook will be supplemented with handouts.



Articles to read and discuss in class (Week 7):

Lovelock, J.: Gaia: the world as living organism. New Scientist, 18 Dec. 1986, 25-28.
Hoffman, P. F., and D. P. Schrag, 2000: Snowball Earth. Scientific American, Jan 2000.



Outline:
WeekDatesTopicReading
Week 1 Mar 29-Apr 2Introduction to climate and systems Chapter 1, 2
Week 2 Apr 5-9 Energy, temperature, solar radiationChapter 3
Week 3Apr 12-16Greenhouse effect, climate feedbacks, cloudsChapter 3
Week 4Apr 19-23Solar energy distribution, atmospheric motionsChapter 4
Week 5Apr 26-30Regional climates, water, oceans, seasonsChapter 5, 6
Week 6May 3-7The carbon cycle: natural and perturbedChapter 8, 16
Week 7May 10-14Ice agesChapter 14
Week 8May 17-21Fossil fuels, human population growthChapter 16
Week 9May 24-29El Nino, global warming, Pacific NW climateChapter 15
Week 10June 1-4OzoneChapter 17
Week 11June 7Final Exam


Please let Larissa know if you have trouble accessing the schedule or homework


Assignments:

Homework 1

Homework 1 solutions (Word)

Homework 2 (pdf) without figure

Homework 2 figure (pdf)

Homework 3 (pdf)

Homework 4 (pdf)

Homework 5- population (pdf)

Math Quiz Solutions (pdf)

Math Quiz Solutions (Word)

Handouts & notes & slides from class

Day-by-day schedule (pdf)

Handout on Sun (pdf)

Handout/notes on sun angle (pdf)

miniquiz on sun angles (slides from class)

Hadley cell handout/notes (pdf)

Midterm Review Sheet (pdf)

Water notes (pdf)

Gaia article (pdf)