Climate and Climate Change
Announcements
- Final grades
- Check out the new website Real Climate. A source of information
for the public about current climate news by expert climate scientists from
all over the world. Get the story from the source, rather than second
hand through the media.
Proxy
data of the week competition (extra credit)
Tree rings as proxy climate data, contributed
by Theodore Hong
 Mexican cypress tree rings. Photo by Peter Brown  Average tree-ring widths of bristle cone pines from the White Mountains, CA. Redrawn from La Marche, 1974. |
 From Fritts, 1976, Tree Rings and Climate |
| Since tree growth is influence by climatic conditions,
patterns in tree-ring widths, density, and isotopic composition reflect variations
in climate. In temperate regions where there is distinct growing seasons,
trees generally produce one ring a year, and thus record the climatic conditions
of each year. Trees can grow to be hundreds to thousands of years old and
can contain annually-resolved records of climate for centuries to millennia. |
Last week's record was about - Historic
Data contributed by Tatiana Feldcherova
 |
The picture
on the left shows the fossilized resins of confier trees, also known as amber,
with a 45 million year old mosquito entombed. Ancient DNA can be analyzed
from these sambles, as well as tiny preserved gas bubbles. Check out the links provided by Tatiana Wonderful pictures UW Physics prof and science fiction author story |
Class Meeting Times and Location: Monday-Thursday from 10:30 to 11:20 am in Bagley Hall (BAG) 154 plus Section on Friday from 10:30 to 11:20 on one of the following:
Section AA in Mary
Gates Hall (MGH) 231
Section AB in Anderson
(AND) 008
Instructor: Cecilia Bitz
e-mail: atms211@atmos.washington.edu
Phone: (206) 543-1339
Office: Room 428 in the Atmospheric Sciences
Building
Office hours: Tuesdays 12:30-1:30, or
by appointment
Teaching Assistant: Tomislav
Maric
e-mail: tomislav@atmos.washington.edu
Phone: (206) 685-9134
Office: Room 623 in the Atmospheric Sciences
Building
Office hours: Friday 11:45-12:45
Teaching Assistant: Terry Kubar
e-mail: tkubar@atmos.washington.edu
Phone: (206) 685-9303
Office: Room 714 in the Atmospheric Sciences
Building
Office hours: Monday 11:45-12:45
This is an introductory course for nonscience majors on climate and climate change. The first part of the class will cover the processes controlling the climate, including the interactions between the atmosphere, the oceans, the solid earth, and the biosphere. Next the course will focus on the climate history of the past. Finally, the course study will include a number of issues related to global change including global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, and global air pollution.
See the syllabus for a more detailed description.
Last Updated:
09/24/2004