Climate Physics

In this module, you will study climate physics, gaining a solid foundation in the physical processes that govern the Earth's climate system. You will explore how energy and mass are exchanged between the atmosphere, land and ocean, and examine how ice, snow and sea level respond to and influence climate change. Through a combination of theory, observations, and applications, you will develop the tools needed to understand and analyze key components of the climate system at both local and global scales.

This module consists of two unit (1) Atmosphere Surface Interactions and (2) Cryosphere and Sea Level Change.

Atmosphere Surface Interactions [6EC] - (Sara Porchetta)
This unit is aimed at students with an interest in the field of applied meteorology, such as wind and solar energy prediction or climate impacts on land use. The main objective of the unit is to provide students with a solid understanding of atmospheric processes that have a strong impact on daily life and play a key role in climate: turbulence, winds, gustiness .... These processes tend to be strongly coupled to the underlying surface and take place in the lower few kilometers of the atmosphere. They comprise the physics and dynamics of (1) land-atmosphere and sea-atmosphere interactions, (2) boundary layer turbulence and (3) wind and solar energy . These are processes that tend to take place on relatively small scales compared to the planetary-scale circulations that define Earth’s climate. This module will explain students how these small-scale processes are coupled to large scale circulations and how they influence the weather we experience every day. 

Cryosphere and Sea Level Change [3 EC] - (Tri Datta)
This is a course on the cryosphere (parts of the earth where there is frozen water, including the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) as well as on sea level rise (which has increased with accelerating ice sheets mass loss). The cryosphere also includes seasonal snow cover, sea-ice, and glaciers, and is strongly affected by extremes.  This course will focus particularly on glaciers and ice sheets and understand how the components of sea level rise respond to a changing climate. We will discuss the dynamics which contribute to sea level rise, including the cryosphere as well as the ocean and solid earth. This course will focus on both physics and observations and discuss multiple earth systems components including glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice, ocean, and the solid earth (particularly coastlines).