AATM552 (Class# 9722): Climate Change

Monday and Wednesday 2:45pm – 4:05pm ES B13

COURSE DESCRIPTION, OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES

This course discusses the current scientific understanding regarding anthropogenic climate change, including uncertainties and inherent limitations. Topics covered will include, among others, modeling aspects of climate change, greenhouse gas forcing and future emission scenarios, the role of aerosols and black carbon in global brightening and dimming, carbon cycle feedbacks, detection and attribution studies (fingerprinting), regional climate change, impacts of climate change on cryosphere, sea-level rise, extreme events, etc. and mitigation and adaptation strategies. The IPCC AR5 report will serve as the basis for discussions but will be supplemented with results emerging from more recent or seminal studies.

INSTRUCTOR Oliver ELISON TIMM

E-mail: oelisontimm@albany.edu

Phone: 442-3584

Office: ES 316A

OFFICE HOURS Tue 10:00am - 11:00am, Wed 1:15pm - 2:15pm (and by appointment)

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

No textbook required. We will read pertinent papers related to the topics covered in class.

In addition we will rely on material from the IPCC, 5th Assessment report.

It is recommended to download selected chapters from AR5 report WG I and WG II as we go along in class: http://www.ipcc.ch/. aAll course material, including class lectures and papers will be made available in electronic form via email, web pages or shared cloud storage.

GRADING SCHEME

Research Proposal (20 percent)

Mid-term exam (20 percent)

Oral presentations in class (20 percent)

Research or review paper (40 percent)

The course is graded A-E

PREREQUISITES

No prerequisites besides the general prerequisites for all departmental graduate courses

RESEARCH OR REVIEW PAPER

You are expected to write a short research proposal (up to four pages, 12pt font single-spaced plus not more than three figures, and additional list of references) and a research or review paper on a pre-approved topic related to climate change. The proposal will be accompanied by a short in-class presentation. The research paper can consist of an in-depth literature review, or original data analysis. It should be in length a typical AMS journal article and be accompanied by a 15 minutes in-class presentation. You are expected to participate in a peer-review process for the proposal and research paper (which will contribute to your grading in the proposal and research paper category).

PROJECTED DATES OF EXAM, PROPOSAL, PAPER, AND PRESENTATION

Sep 15/17 Proposal outline presentation in class

Oct 1 Proposal (in written form) due

Oct 8 Student’s feedback on proposals due

Oct 15 Mid-term exam

Nov 10-17 Research result presentations in class

Nov 19 Research paper due for peer review

Nov 24 Peer-review due

Dec 8 Final revised research paper due