Subject deals with properties of the climate system and its fluctuations in the past million years. Phenomena of drought, El Nino, Southern Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, and other interannual fluctuations. Suitable for students with little or no previous background in meteorology. Construction and application of simplified models of climate and climate change. Discussion of General Circulation Model studies of climate and climate change.
Content varies somewhat according to student and staff interests.
Emphasis on the relationship between theory and observations. Instrumentation and the application of statistical techniques also covered. Directed at the quantitative combinations of models, with realistic, i.e. sparse and noisy observations. Potential vorticity homohenization and the ventilated thermocline. Decadal climate variability.