Introduction of the most important components of the climate systems and their interactions.
Learning objective
Students have a basic understanding of the global energy balance, radiation budget, boundary, layer, atmosphere, ocean, biosphere, land-surface coupling, cryosphere, carbon cycle, climate variability, climate of the past and anthropogenic climate change, and they are able to apply this to solve simple quantitative problems and answer qualitative questions.
Lecture notes
Copies of the slides are provided in electronic form.
Literature
A comprehensive list of references is provided in the class. Two books are particularly recommended: - Hartmann, D., 1994: Global Physical Climatology. Academic Press, London, 411 pp. - Peixoto, J.P. and A.H. Oort, 1992: Physics of Climate. American Institute of Physics, New York, 520 pp.
Prerequisites / Notice
Teaching: Reto Knutti, several keynotes to special topics by other professors Course taught in german, slides in english
Performance assessment
Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)
Performance assessment as a semester course