Tropical Weather and Climate Extremes

This subject gives an overview of the weather and climate extreme phenomena in the tropical region, as driven by the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere on a wide range of time and space scales. Topics include tropical cyclones, ENSO theory, Monsoon depression and Monsoon lows, cloud clusters and squall lines, tropical-extratropical interactions, the governing equations at low latitudes, momentum and heat exchanges in the ocean and atmospheric boundary layers, fundamental causes of ocean circulation, ocean wave theory including wind-waves and tides, Kelvin and Rossby waves, and intraseasonal oscillations.

• 1describe the fundamental causes of the general circulation of the ocean and its relationship to the general circulation of the atmosphere
• 2reproduce the governing equations and approximations relevant to the tropical atmosphere and describe the key structural features of the tropical weather and climate
• 3describe and solve the fundamental equations that explain waves in the ocean and the atmosphere, including equatorial waves and their relationship to tropical weather and climate
• 4explain and quantify the fundamental processes causing upper-ocean mixing, variations in upper-ocean properties due to air-sea interaction effects, both locally and globally
• 5communicate clearly the key concepts discussed in this subject
• 6utilise appropriate numerical methods and computer programming to analyse, visualise and understand real-world weather and climate datasets