Course Description
Sustainable development depends on quantitative knowledge of the past, present, and future behaviour of the Earth System. This understanding is derived from physics-based models of the atmosphere and the ocean. This course introduces the hierarchy of climate models, starting with simple energy balance models, then increasing complexity to arrive at oceanic and atmospheric circulation models. These models are based on the physical principles of the conservation of mass, energy and momentum. Climate feedbacks and wave propagation are examined to understand the response of the climate system to perturbations. The numerical techniques required to perform model simulations on the computer are introduced and discussed. In the parallel coursework, a key element of this course, students learn to implement such models using Python and to conduct simulations.
Detailed lecture notes for this course are available at https://climatehomes.unibe.ch/~stocker/lecturenotes.html.
