Modern and Future Climate

The main area of study in this subject is the examination of the key processes that maintain our present climate and how these may change into the future with climate change. We examine this by studying the controlling mechanisms for key conserved quantities in the Earth System such as energy, moisture, angular momentum and key trace gases. The subject also introduces the various techniques used for climate predictions globally and locally. These include the modelling of climate change and the use of emission scenarios. Interpretation and statistical analysis of future-climate scenarios and the use of ensemble simulations.

• 1Describe the dynamic balances of key climate variables on climate time scales
• 2Derive and apply simple quantitative models of the impact of atmospheric radiative processes on climate
• 3Quantitatively analyse the sensitivity of key climate variables to altered forcing
• 4Describe at a qualitative level the key tools used for climate prediction
• 5Interpret the role of model uncertainty in attribution and prediction of climate change
• 6Implement simple numerical models encapsulating the dynamics of key climate variables
• 7Explain the underlying concepts of climate change coherently and comprehensibly