Climate Dynamics Seminar

Class I: An OverviewBy

De-Zheng Sunhttp://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/dezheng.sun/

Outline of Today’s Lecture

• The climate system• A fundamental question about the climate system

• The approach of this course• Some examples of variability in the state of the climate system

• Recommended reading for the next lecture

The Climate System

Atmosphere

Cryosphere Lithosphere

Hydrosphere Biosphere

The Atmosphere

The Hydrosphere

The Cryosphere Land Ice Sea Ice

The Lithosphere

The Biosphere

The Interactions

The question

A fundamental question about the climate system is why its state is always changing, and yet has so far avoided a runaway instability that could destroy all life. It is also against this background that the importance of understanding human impact on the state of the climate system better emerges. With our industrial activity changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere, are we prodding a "lamb" who poses no harm, or a "beast" who may react to devour all of us?

Topical Maximum SST--An Example of Stability

The Approach

This course attempts to shed some light on the above questions through lectures by leading climate experts in the Boulder climate community.

NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/

NSF/NCAR/Earth Sun System Research Laboratory

http://www.essl.ucar.edu/

Syllabus

08/30 Overview (De-Zheng Sun)

09/06 Madden-Julian Oscillation (Mitch Moncrieff, NCAR)

09/13 Madden-Julian Oscillation (George Kiladis, NOAA)

09/20 El Nino Southern Oscillation (Cecile Penland, NOAA)

09/27 El Nino Southern Oscillation (De-Zheng Sun)

10/04 El Nino Southern Oscillation (Antonietta Capitoni, NOAA)

10/11 Pacific Decadal Oscillation (Mike Alexander, NOAA)

10/18 North Atlantic Oscillations/Annular Modes (Judith Perlwitz, NOAA)

10/25 Sea Ice and Climate Variability (Marika Holland, NCAR)

11/1 Thermohaline Circulation and Abrupt Climate Change (Frank Bryan, NCAR)

11/08 Climate Forcing (William Collins, NCAR)

11/15 Climate Feedbacks (De-Zheng Sun)

11/22 No Class (Thanksgiving Holiday)

11/29 Climate Change/Paleoclimate (Jeff Kiehl, NCAR)

12/6 Climate-Weather Connections (Kevin Trenberth, NCAR)

12/13 Summary (De-Zheng Sun)

Madden-Julian Oscillation

El Nino--Southern Oscillation

PDO

North Atlantic Oscillation

Glacial cycles

Recommended readings for the next lecture

Moncrieff, 2004: Analytic representation of the large-scale organization of tropical convection. J. Atmos. Sci., 61, 1521-1538.

Zhang, C. 2005: Madden-Julian Oscillation, Rev. Geophys, 43 # RG2003

A Poem By Robert FrostSome say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.