This discipline core will provide students with the deeper physical understanding to comprehend and study the complex
atmospheric flows that define climate and weather. The module will use interactive lectures to introduce advanced dynamical
principles to explain global climate, the planetary circulation, weather systems in the tropics and extratropics and coupled
atmosphere-ocean phenomena that set weather and climate variability.
In these lectures, laboratory experiments with a rotating tank or visualizations of atmospheric flows are a starting point to
describe the complex flows in our atmosphere. Each week, the students will be guided during practical lab work/assignments in
which material collected during the tank experiments, toy models or observational datasets are used and analyzed to describe
uncoupled and coupled phenomena in the atmosphere.
Study Goals After completing this module, students will be able to:
1. Analyse data of the horizontal and vertical structure of atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind to explain the
general circulation of the atmosphere and climate zones
2. Apply conservation of heat, moisture and momentum to explain the origin and features of tropical and extratropical weather
phenomena
3. Assess the role of air-sea coupling on atmospheric dynamics on short (weather) and long (climate) timescales
4. Analyse and evaluate the sensitivity of circulations and climate by running experiments with idealized simulations and toy
models
5. Design a hypothetical lab experiment to study the influence of climate change on atmosphere dynamics
6. Discuss processes that cause uncertainty in weather and climate prediction
